Powerful euroskeptic populist politicians facing elections next year in other EU nations shrugged off Hofer’s loss as a temporary setback, but the result was greeted with relief and congratulations by mainstream politicians.
French President Francois Hollande said Austrians “made the choice of Europe, and openness.” Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who heads Germany’s center-left Social Democrats, told the Bild newspaper that “a load has been taken off the mind of all of Europe.” He called the result “a clear victory for good sense against right-wing populism.”
Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said Van der Bellen “will represent Austria domestically and abroad in an excellent manner” — alluding to fears by establishment politicians that a victory by Hofer, whose anti-immigrant Freedom Party is critical of the 28-nation EU, would hurt Austria’s image. Van der Bellen is liberal, left-of-center and pro-EU.
Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, called the victory a defeat for “anti-European, backward-looking populism.”
With polls estimating that the two candidates were neck-and-neck ahead of the vote, Van der Bellen’s margin of victory was unexpected.
Political scientist Kathrin Stainer Haemmerle told the Austria Press Agency said that despite widespread disenchantment with establishment parties in Austria, the results show “the majority of the population is not looking for radical change.”
Still, Van der Bellen’s victory presages new possible divisions.
The new Austrian president-elect has said he would refuse to swear in a government led by the Freedom Party. But with the Freedom Party given a good chance of winning the parliamentary election less than two years away, Van der Bellen might be forced to act on that pledge. If he is true to his word, he would plunge Austria into a political crisis with unforeseen consequences.
