Austrians currently have to deal with five parties in the National Council: the ÖVP, the SPÖ, the FPÖ, the Greens and the Neos. And there is also a non-attached MP, Pia Philippa Beck, the ex-wife of the former FPÖ leader and Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache. This brings with it a variety of positions. After the National Council election in September, seven parties in parliament could share the 183 seats. The Beer Party and the KPÖ could join the five parties already represented – if they manage to re-enter.
The Beer Party hardly has a real program or solutions for the questions of our time, but with Dominik Wlazny, as Marco Pogo, a musician whose main job is, it is obviously an attractive top candidate. In surveys, the Beer Party is at a good six percent, so it would have easily cleared the four percent hurdle.
Few resources, big impact
Wlazny has not yet announced a final decision as to whether he will run at all, but the good poll numbers suggest this. Wlazny is still a long way from his goal of recruiting 20,000 members for the beer party, but with a few sponsors a proper election campaign should be possible. Wlazny has already proven that he can achieve impact even with few resources. When he ran in the 2022 federal presidential election, he achieved 8.3 percent and thus third place, which was almost 340,000 votes.
The KPÖ, founded in 1918, was already represented in the Austrian National Council from 1945 to 1959, and now it has the prospect of making it into parliament again. The KPÖ has been running undauntedly in National Council elections for decades, with a result of around one percent, usually lower, but miles away from a mandate. In the most recent election in 2019 it was 0.69 percent.
Persistence for decades
The good results in the federal states, Elke Kahr as mayor in Graz and Kay-Michael Dankl as designated deputy mayor in Salzburg, also give the KPÖ a steady upward trend at the federal level, and so there have recently been two surveys in which the KPÖ is at four Percent was seen - this would mean that she would be represented in parliament again for the first time since 1959. Persistence apparently pays off.
There were only once more than five parties in parliament, namely in the legislative period from 2013 to 2017, when, in addition to the SPÖ, ÖVP, FPÖ, Greens and Neos, the Stronach team of the Canadian-Austrian billionaire Frank Stronach was also represented in parliament. The departure of the Stronach team from the political stage in Austria was not a great loss, but the many protest voices that are always there and which seem to be increasing are looking for a home, if they are not exactly with the FPÖ.
In any case, seven parties in the National Council would be a challenge for democracy - and also a challenge for journalistic preparation. One that we are of course looking forward to, purely from a journalistic point of view.
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My personal social media moment
: I know this is very polarizing, but you should listen to what actress Andrea Sawatzki has to say here. Rethinking your own position is never a mistake.
Thank you very much for your attention, I remain with kind regards from Vienna,
yours Michael Völker, Head of Domestic Department DER STANDARD
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