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LATEST: Austria’s president Alexander Van der Bellen set to be reelected on Sunday

As Austrians head to the polls, incumbent Van der Bellen is the favourite to win after a campaign that has put him as the 'safe choice' for Austrians.

Published: 7 October 2022 17:04 CEST
LATEST: Austria's president Alexander Van der Bellen set to be reelected on Sunday

Austrian citizens will be able to vote for their next president on Sunday, October 9th, but since he announced he’d been running for the job again, incumbent Alexander Van der Bellen has been the uncontested favourite.

Van der Bellen was first elected in 2016, starting his term the following year. Despite the presidency being a largely ceremonial role, VdB, as he is known in Austria, has held office while the country went through political instability, the coronavirus pandemic and the Ukraine war and the consequent inflation and energy crisis.

READ ALSO: Reader question: Can I vote in Austria’s presidential elections?

He has since positioned himself as a stable and safe choice during changing and challenging times. And he is expected to be voted for a second term, possibly already in the first round, with an absolute majority.

Van der Bellen, who was part of the Greens party but is now an independent (also due to the nonpartisan concept of the presidential role), has the backing of most political parties, including major players ÖVP and Greens, Austria’s ruling coalition, and opposition parties SPÖ and NEOS.

Recent polls put him at 58 percent, followed by Walter Rosenkranz, who is affiliated with the right-wing FPÖ party and has around 16 percent of the voting intentions.

READ ALSO: Austrian presidential elections: What exactly does the president do?

Smaller campaigns

Van der Bellen’s favouritism – and the coronavirus pandemic – also has implications on the overall campaigning this year.

While in 2016, the dispute between him and right-wing Norbert Hofer was tighter and led to multiple public events and expenses, six years later, the now president kept events smaller and did not participate in any televised debates with his opponents.

READ ALSO: Is Austria’s Freedom Party a ‘far-right’ party?

He argued there was no need to participate in debates because, after the last six years, people already knew how he would act in times of crisis. VdB is also aware of his favouritism, but the question remains whether or not he can avoid a run-off.

“For once, I’m not afraid of anything,” he said in a televised interview. “But I would be happy to gather a majority around me already on October 9th”.

Though without much hope to win, the other candidates have used the campaign to gain larger projection nationwide, with Rosenkranz investing in propaganda and printed signs all over Austria.

READ ALSO: Austrian presidential elections: Who are the seven candidates?

Polls close on Sunday 9th, at 5 pm, and early election projections should be available shortly after that.

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AUSTRIAN HABITS

What issues do Austrians care about the most?

It is election year, and a new survey reveals which topics Austrians care about the most. Here we tell you what lies closest to their hearts and what does not.

Published: 15 May 2024 12:39 CEST
What issues do Austrians care about the most?

On October 23rd, Austria’s will hold its parliamentary elections for the National Council. This election determines the 183 members of the National Council, which is the primary legislative body in the country.

The election to the National Council takes place every five years and it is the country’s most important election. Austrian citizens who are at least 16 years old on election day are entitled to vote.

With the upcoming election in mind, a recent survey conducted by Linz-based Market Institute on behalf of Der Standard, revealed which topics eligible voters in Austria consider the most important, and what actions they are willing to take to see changes taking place.

Better healthcare is top priority

The survey showed that Austrians prioritise improvements in the healthcare system the most. Around 82 percent believe that improving the healthcare system was an important political concern. This belief remains consistent across different age groups and political beliefs. However, the level of interest in healthcare improvements tends to increase with age. 

Concerns surrounding the state of the ountry’s healthcare system have mounted in recent years. Austria is currently dealing with a serious staff shortage in the healthcare sector, meaning fewer available medical staff for patients. Additionally, the system faces new challenges arising from changes in doctors preferences and the limited number of contracts for practices with public healthcare funds. Many doctors prefer to work as private sector doctors, known as “Wahlarzt” in German, rather than having contracts with insurance-funded practices, where the doctors are referred to as “Alle Kassenarzt” in German.

In addition to healthcare, Austrians also prioritise a better education system (78 percent), fighting corruption (76 percent), fighting high prices and inflation (75 percent), maintaining neutrality (72 percent), reducing energy costs (70 percent), and better paid jobs (67 percent). Legalising cannabis ranks lowest in importance among respondents, with only 19 percent in favour.

But even if voters highlighted these issues as important, many revealed. they did not want to get involved politically themselves to make things better. Only about 35 percent of those who want to improve healthcare are ready to join efforts such as demonstrating, collecting signatures, or networking with others to make changes happen.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How the Austrian healthcare system works

Niche topics create more motivation for mobilisation

The survey showed the level of public engagement varied depending on the issue.

From the subjects mentioned above, only two – neutrality and energy costs, have the potential to persuade people to get involved in politics. Since those are niched topics they have potential to garner greater public support and engagement.

David Pfarrhofer, political researcher at Market Institute, suggested that niche topics often mobilise members of the public more than broader issues due to their specific focus and great relevance to smaller groups of people.

Political views influence opinions

Political party connections affect how Austrians view different social issues. While many supporters from different parties agree on protesting against right-wing extremism and supporting rights to free abortion, opinions on other matters such as reducing working hours, improving the military, climate change activism and immigration differ a lot among different political groups.

For example, while half of The Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and a third of the The Green Party voters (Die Grünen) like the idea of working less, it is not popular among supporters of other parties, especially among those who support the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP).

Another example is that two-thirds of respondents believe that protests against discrimination against women are justified. However, supporters of ÖVP and The Freedom Party (FPÖ) agree less with this statement than the other parties. “This is probably because many of them no longer consider such a disadvantage to exist,” says Pfarrhofer.

When it comes to protests against immigration, 84 percent of FPÖ supporters view protests against immigration as justified, meanwhile 52 percent of The Green Party supporters and 40 percent of SPÖ supporters reject such protests.

READ MORE: Healthcare in Austria: Why are there fewer ‘public’ doctors?

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