Why Austria’s Election Makes History Either Way: QuickTake Q&A
Will Austria Be the Next Populist Domino to Fall?
When Austria began its presidential campaign a year ago, the odds of Brexit were low and Florida Senator Marco Rubio was favored to become the Republican presidential nominee. One year later, with the U.K.’s European Union exit a fait accompli and President-elect Donald Trump set to take office, Austrians are still wrangling over their next leader, knowing that, whatever decision they make on Dec. 4, 70 years of postwar political order will be upended.
No matter who wins, the country will break seven decades of custom by inaugurating a leader outside the ruling Social Democratic and Austrian People’s Parties. On one side is Norbert Hofer of the euro-skeptic, anti-immigrant Freedom Party, hoping to become Western Europe’s first right-wing nationalist head of state since World War II. He’s facing the Green Party’s Alexander Van der Bellen. The previous president, Heinz Fischer, stepped down in July after two terms and Austria has been without a full-time head of state ever since.