Major gains for far-right Freedom Party in Vienna election

[Hannah Bell]

On October 10, the rightwing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) made significant gains in the Vienna city council election. Winning around 200,000 votes, it was almost able to double its result in 2005. In a turnout of 68 percent—considerably higher than 5 years ago—it received 66 percent of votes cast.

The Social Democratic Party (SPO) and its Mayor Michael Haeupl—who held office for 16 years—lost its absolute majority in the Austrian capital for the first time in years. Their vote fell by 5 percent to only 44 percent. Häuple now has to look for a coalition partner.

Governing on the federal level in a coalition with the Social Democrats, the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) also suffered heavy losses. It plummeted from 19 to 14 percent to become only the third strongest party, closely followed by the Greens who dropped from 15 to 13 percent...

Thus, two years after the death of its long-term leader Joerg Haider, rightwing forces in Austria are again approaching the election success they achieved in 1999. At that time, they emerged as the second largest party in the general election and joined the government headed by Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP)...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/vien-o22.shtml

[Ken Burch]

1. From the article:

"The FPÖ primarily owes its re-ascent to the rightwing policies of the social democrats, which have been governing Austria in a grand coalition with the conservatives for three-and-a-half years. The coalition government reacted to the international economic crisis by implementing brutal austerity measures in education, health care and pension endowment.

With public opposition to these spending cuts unable to find any political expression in the ranks of existing political parties, the FPÖ was able to take advantage of mounting social tensions. The social democrats have slashed spending on social housing provoking serious unrest in the capital where an estimated one in three residents is immigrant."