Oops - we did it again... elections in Germany and Austria

patriziatrapp
29. Okt. 2017
2 Min. Lesezeit

On October 15, 2017 the latest elections for the Chancellor of Austria took place, almost one month ago, on September 2014, Germany held their elections. This post should give a brief overview about what the political situation there is like at the moment.

Austria

ÖVP - is the conservative People's Party, led by 31 year old foreign minister Sebastian Kurz

SPÖ - the center-left Social Democratics, led by former Chancellor Christian Kern

FPÖ - the far-right Freedom Party, led by HC Strache

Neos - the New Austrian and Liberal Forum, led by Matthias Strolz Grüne - the Greens, with their candidate Ulrike Lunacek

ÖVP and SPÖ have governed together in a grand coalition for more than a decade but since Mr. Kurz and Mr. Kern make no secret of disliking each other, this coalition is not likely to be formed after the elections.

For the first time in over a decade the FPÖ looks to have a good chance of joining the government. The FPÖ has been in government before when in 2000 it teamed with the People’s Party for five years. Back then, the European Union imposed sanctions against Austria to show its displeasure.

You may ask yourself why the EU has a problem with the FPÖ being part of the government:

The Freedom Party's first Leader was a former SS officer and the current leader, Hans-Christian Strache, was a one-time neo-Nazi youth activist. Their program is said to be xenophobic and members of the party wore blue cornflowers in the National Council in 2013. The blue cornflower became symbol of the National Socialism when other symbols and the party NSDAP were prohibited in 1933.

Result:

Sebastian Kurz was now charged by President Prof. Alexander van der Bellen with forming a government.

For more background information click here.

Germany

CDU/CSU - the Christian Democratic Union, allied with the bavarian Christian Social Union, with candidate Angela Merkel, current Chancellor

SPD - the Social Democratics, with their candidate Martin Schulz

AfD - the far-right Alternative for Germany, their candidates are Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel

Just as other european countries whose elections took place lately, Germany can't escape the western populist wave either, even though the AfD won't govern in a coalition.

Results: