The old and new president addressed the electorate with a video message on Sunday before rushing to the election party and the television studios. The little film differed from his earlier video speeches not only because instead of concern about the state of the country, joy at his own success prevailed this time. Alexander Van der Bellen, who was re-elected on Sunday with 56 percent of the votes in the first ballot, this time only thanked the “dear Austrians” while, unlike usual, he thanked everyone “who lives here”, mentioned later. Because this second group primarily means those who are not allowed to vote – which marks at least one topic that should once again be hotly debated as a result of this direct election: the high number of migrants in the country who are trying in vain to become citizens and thus voters will.
In addition, Van der Bellen, who needed a run-off election in 2016 to be chosen and is now starting his second and last term in office, did not, as is often the case, record his speech in front of the red velvet decor of the Hofburg. The Federal President has his elegant, plush office there. Instead, he stood in front of a comparatively simple, white-painted wooden panel, which can be taken as an indication that the 78-year-old wants to take a more bold approach in the second round. His appeal was also in line with this: it takes solidarity to master the major tasks that lie ahead of the country, and he will get to work immediately to do his part.
Van der Bellen, economist and former federal spokesman for the Greens, is known for consciously nuancing his choice of words and cleverly staging his performances. The fact that a Federal President promises to work is not real news, but there is also a second level in this message: During the election campaign he was repeatedly criticized for being too withdrawn and not close to the people. And that he was not sufficiently critical of the scandals and intrigues of the governing party ÖVP, which has been faced with sensational revelations about internal chat logs and numerous corruption cases for almost two years.
He likes to emphasize that he too is a refugee child
The ancestors of this Tyrolean come from Holland and emigrated to the Russian Empire in the 18th century. His family fled the revolution and the Bolsheviks in 1919 via Estonia, where Van der Bellen’s father married an Estonian; the couple then fled west in 1941 and ended up as so-called ethnic Germans in the Kaunertal, west of Innsbruck. Alexander Van der Bellen, nicknamed Sascha, was born there in 1944; As a politician, he himself repeatedly referred to the fact that he too was a refugee child.
The first election that brought him to office in 2016 came under unusual circumstances; At that time, the FPÖ, whose candidate was only narrowly defeated, successfully filed a constitutional complaint about minor irregularities in the conduct of the election. This time, it was less the type of election victory that was unusual than the election campaign itself: the incumbent ran against six candidates, none of whom – with the exception of the FPÖ candidate – entered the race on the ticket of an established party. Three right-wing candidates who presented themselves as “anti-system” and “enemy of the establishment” ran. The real surprise, however, was ultimately the rock musician and doctor Dominik Wlazny, aka Marco Pogo, who came in second place in the capital, Vienna, with almost twelve percent, ahead of the FPÖ applicant, and was chosen primarily by people under 30. Incidentally, Van der Bellen is not to be sworn in until January 26 – among other things, to allow time for any action to contest the election.