Last Sunday saw the latest edition of Austrian Presidential Elections. They happen every 6 years, and since the incumbent was not allowed another term of office, we needed somebody new. In fact, last Sunday was only the run-off ballot between the two candidates who gained the most votes four weeks ago, in the first ballot with six candidates.
What was left over were the right-wing candidate and the one supported by the green party; and the elections could not have been any more exciting. On Sunday, the projection of the votes stood at 50 : 50 percent, and it took the whole Monday to count the absentee ballots (among them mine) to come to the final result of 49,65 : 50,35 percent, a difference of ony 31.026 votes (more than 4.8 million Austrians voted).
Austria now has – as the first country in Europe – a president with a green, left-wing background and I am quite relieved about that. While it never happened in Japan (yet), I have been asked about all the “Nazis” in Austria before… Anyway, I think I will call it a night early today, since I didn’t sleep much the last two nights because I was waiting for the results. Last night alone, I spent a whole hour watching somebody walking up and down before cameras while he was waiting for the Austrian Minister of the Interior to announce the final results. I obviously don’t have anything better to do…
Indeed, after four weeks of a downright ridiculous election campaign, we had the choice between pest and cholera. I’m not sure which one has won. Anyway, if there had been a third choice “Neither of them”, this one would have been the best choice… :-/
I was so relieved on Monday! I had a feeling it’d be close, though I had hoped VdB’s win would be clearer and not by such a slim margin. I still remember the backlash on the blue/black government and all the comments in the press.
I just hope that the FPO is going to accept the vote and not try to destabilize the country. It’s high time politicians go back to their work – they bicker enough as it is, without the added drama of the presidential election 🙁
How do we say: Hope dies last?