While the election campaign for Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen is already in full swing, for example, on Sunday a black, red, pink and green group of ex-politicians announced their support for the incumbent, the Blues are rumored to be boiling hotter. Who are you going to nominate? It can be a surprising candidate from the outside.
Virtually nothing is set – except that ex-candidate Norbert Hofer, who in 2016 achieved the best result the FPÖ has ever achieved in its history in the first of two second ballots, is not running for a re-candidate.
In the second round in May 2016, Hofer was only 30,000 votes behind Van der Bellen with 49.65 percent. Hofer and the FPÖ did not accept that, contested the elections – and the blue candidate went downhill. On the second attempt, Hofer’s shortfall rose to 350,000 votes. His 46 percent at the time remains a proud result. Nobody believes that Hofer can compete with Van der Bellen this year. And because party leader Herbert Kickl won’t risk a (much) worse outcome than his internal party opponent Hofer once did, he probably won’t risk running for office either.
Blue drum beat
That is how the (too) often mentioned Member of Parliament Susanne Fürst remains. But because it doesn’t have much appeal inside the party and outside the Blue Party, insiders consider the Fürst variant a glamour. Kickl wants to wait as long as possible before nominating his candidate – and then have a blast. Andreas Rabl, the blue mayor of Wels, who feeds deep into the social-democratic and conservative electorate in the once-red city of Upper Austria, probably won’t be — not least because he’s recently been attacked by the media. A small taste of what awaits him if he actually stands as a candidate.
Bierlein – absurd?
So the speculation continues to sprout in the direction of surprise from the outside. Several names have already been mentioned and denied (Kickl literally spoke of “Schmus”). But the name Brigitte Bierlein is increasingly heard. In 2019, after the Ibiza unveiling, the highest judge was chancellor of a civil service government for seven months. It seems absurd that she could compete with her ‘inventor’ Van der Bellen. On the other hand, it sounds promising because she would actually be Van der Bellen’s most dangerous challenger — not just with reach in bourgeois, conservative circles. Is she doing it? We’ll know soon!
Source: Krone
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