Conversation

Quick reminder both for myself and anyone else who's seeing the news headlines in the English-speaking world about the Austrian election: yes, it's true that the FPÖ got 28-ish% of the vote. It's true they're the largest single party by a point or two. BUT it's also true that more than seven out of 10 Austrians who voted did _not_ vote for the FPÖ. It wouldn't be a surprise to find that for every FPÖ voter there's another voter who loathes the the FPÖ and everything it stands for.

And nobody has "won" this election. We've just had the election, and now begins a month or two of coalition negotiations to see who can actually put together a majority in the Nationalrat, where the FPÖ have many more foes than they have friends. There aren't any small far-right parties represented in Parliament who they could draw on for support. Their only real coalition prospect would be with the ÖVP, and while the ÖVP have a history of thinking that they can "control" the FPÖ in a coalition the prospect of being the junior partner might just give them pause for thought.

I know it's cold comfort, but here I am being all optimistic because it's either that or go and scream into the void and right now the local void in Vienna is so busy with people screaming into it that I can't get an appointment until next Thursday.

#nrw24 #nrw2024