Austria's centrist coalition survives far-right election gains
Source: UK Guardian
The partners in Austria's pro-Europe, centrist coalition scraped a combined majority on Sunday despite recording their worst election results since the second world war and losing support to the far-right Freedom party and a new liberal party. Populists hostile to the euro or to immigration have ridden a wave of anger over austerity, recession and unemployment to make inroads from the Netherlands to Italy, France, Finland and Greece since the financial crisis began in 2008.
Chancellor Werner Faymann's Social Democrats (SPO) – who had campaigned on a platform of defending jobs and pensions and redistributing wealth – got 27.1% of the vote, down more than two points from 2008, preliminary results showed. The conservative People's party (OVP) also shed more than two points to 23.8%, giving the two parties that have dominated post-war Austrian politics a combined – albeit reduced – majority for a new five-year term in parliament.
The anti-immigration and anti-Islam FPO, which seeks to end taxpayer-funded bailouts of weaker eurozone countries, boosted its share of the vote by almost four points to 21.4%. "This is an incredible success. We are the election-night victors," said FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache, 44, a polarising figure who is popular with many young people but anathema to the political establishment that he loves to bash.
The environmentalist Greens, who would have been likely to join the existing coalition parties in government had they failed to secure a majority, gained one point to win 11.5%. Strache's FPO could not overtake the OVP due to competition from Stronach's new party, also Eurosceptic but without the FPO's anti-foreigner tone. Team Stronach got 5.8%, ahead of the evening's other big winner, the new liberal party Neos, which got 4.8% - above the 4% threshold needed to enter parliament.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/29/austria-coalition-far-right-election
The far-right came up short in this Austrian election but it is gaining. Good to see that the Greens increased their vote and that a new liberal party has emerged.
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