The Austrian election ended last night, with a bit of a shocker for some folks.
Sebastian Kurz led his People's Party (OVP) to a 30.2-percent win in the election. Young guy, energeric, anti-migration theme, EU-skeptic.
The number two participation in the election? The Freedom Party (FPO).....which most people see this as the right-of-center party hooking up with the far-right folks at the Freedom Party (their win was 26.8-percent).
Sitting there as the third-place winner....the Social Democrats (26.3-percent)....the left-of-center group.
The Greens? Well, that's an interesting story as well....it was a severe drop in votes to the last election. Only 3.3-percent. What happened? Back in the late spring, there was a member of the Green Party who had national recognition....Peter Pilz. The party had a conference and Peter Pilz was not going to be the candidate to lead the party. Frustration came upon Pilz and he quit the party.
Days passed, and Peter Pilz formed his own party....even naming it the Peter Pilz Part (I know, it would typically go nowhere). But this is 2017 and Macron did this in France. The Pilz List (the Pilz Party) ended up with 4.1-percent of the vote (8 seats in the legisature) and basically stole the 4.1-percent from the Green Party.
What happens to the Austrian Green Party now? It'll sit there mostly....waiting for the next national election. In regional or city politics, they might still be able to carve out some wins unless the Pilz List folks show up. My guess is that in four years....the Green Party does something to convince Pilz to combine with them into one party.
As for Kurz and the OVP win? It's safe to say that the EU now has a guy facing them and prepared to poke them weekly. It's also safe to say that if you were a migrant or immigrant looking around at Europe....Austria is now probably off your favorites list.
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