Photo by Eben Marks. Some rights reserved.On April 24, Austrian voters delivered a shock to the political system. Every Austrian president since 1945 has been from or backed by either the Social Democrats or the People’s Party, the two of which have governed Austria in a grand coalition almost constantly since the war.
That changed this year. The candidates of the two establishment parties barely broke the 10 per cent barrier in the first round. Instead the final vote on May 22 is between Green-backed Alexander Van der Bellen and Norbert Hofer from the far-right Freedom Party. Hofer came first by a large margin and looks well placed to win, but it is not a foregone conclusion.
It’s clear that Hofer’s age (at 45 he is decades younger than his rivals) is a real strength. A poll of people who voted in the first round, carried out by research organisation SORA, found that Hofer voters were most likely to ascribe his “youth” and “dynamism” as a reason they chose him. However Hofer isn’t just a young person’s candidate. He led among voters of all age groups with the exception of women under 30, the only group to choose Van der Bellen.
