Candidates, issues in Austria presidential election

Far-right candidate Nobert Hofer, of the Freedom Party, will face Alexander Van der Bellen, a former leader of the leftist Greens Party.

Austria’s vote is a repeat of a contest in May in which Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party was very narrowly defeated by center-left candidate Alexander Van der Bellen. Recent public opinion studies have shown the two candidates with about equal support.

Still, with hundreds of thousands of Austrian voters still undecided, even a slight bounce from the USA election could be decisive in a race that for now is too close to call.

“The whole political situation is shifting”, said Johannes Horvath, a retired manager in the renewable-energy sector who said he voted for Van der Bellen in May and plans to do so again. But those results were overturned by Austria’s constitutional court because of problems with voting procedures.

Hofer built his campaign for the mostly ceremonial post on voters’ anxiety about immigration, tapping into rifts on race, religion and economic inequality.

He said he wouldn’t call for Austria to leave the European Union but would take a referendum if Turkey joined or Brussels tried to centralise more power.

Most of those taking part in the seminar said it would be wrong to draw simple comparisons between today’s parties like the FPO, which criticise Islam and immigration, and right-wing populists in the 1930s.

While the majority of the ruling Social Democrats already endorsed Van der Bellen’s short-lived victory back in May and now call to vote for him, OVP is divided over its choice.

In a speech touching on themes such as lowering taxes and improving trade relations, especially with Russia, Hofer also said immigrants such as refugees should not be able to claim the same benefits as Austrians.

Hofer said Merkel had caused “serious damage” to Europe by supporting open policies for migrants.

Yet if the United States can elect Trump, then why, some here argue, shouldn’t Austrians give Hofer a chance?

The presidency is largely ceremonial but it would be another triumph for populist politics a month after Donald Trump’s U.S. election victory and barely five months since the British chose to leave the European Union.

Many are already noting parallels with the US presidential race, in which Mr. Trump’s populist revolt against Washington elites triumphed even though polls showed him trailing going into the election.

Van der Bellen says he hopes that Trump’s triumph will serve as a “wake-up call” to vote for him and against Hofer.

While the Austrian presidency is a largely ceremonial post, the vote is being watched in other European Union countries. In a video recording that went viral in Austria, a Holocaust survivor know only by her first name, Gertrude, said: “I’ve seen this once before, and scares me”. Le Pen is seen as a possible competitor in France’s presidential election next year. Several Freedom Party politicians also attended the election-night celebration at Trump Tower in NY. The coalition with the conservative People’s Party has been weakened by constant bickering, which further boosts the popularity of Hofer’s populist opposition.