He probably had to give him a little more to recover from reading the latest polls. Dominik Wlazny, leader of a Viennese punk group, now finds himself at the head of the third party in the voting intentions of the inhabitants of the Austrian capital, less than two years before the next elections. His satirical Beer Party actually obtained 12% in the latest survey carried out by the very serious Unique Research institute for the tabloid Heute.
A dazzling progression for the party created in 2015, which had only collected 5,000 votes, or less than 0.1%, in the 2019 legislative elections. In 2020, the local election in Vienna had already marked progress, with 1 .8% of the votes, despite the failure to elect a candidate. And in 2022, Dominik Wlazny placed third in the presidential election, with 8.3% of the vote. A result which could still be attributed to the protocol aspect of the presidential function in Austria, where most of the power is held by the government.
Traditional parties in decline
Since then, most polling institutes placed the Beer Party between 2 and 4% of voting intentions. In June, however, the Peter Hajeck Institute had placed it at 8% in the context of national legislative elections, and Unique Research already at 12%. A figure therefore confirmed on the scale of the Austrian capital in a study carried out between October 2 and 5, which above all marks a withdrawal of traditional parties and another surge, that of the far right.
Because several scandals have shaken up the Austrian political scene for several months. The coalition led by the conservative ÖVP was suspected of collusion with Russia, and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had to resign following accusations of corruption in 2021, and was indicted in August. The leader of the Social Democratic Party, for his part, sparked a more recent controversy by declaring himself a “Marxist” since adolescence. His SPÖ party thus lost 6.6 points but remained well ahead in the voting intention of the Viennese, in the Unique Research study. The conservative party lost half of its electorate, while the far right jumped by almost 16%.
And the Beer Party in all this? The party aims above all to be satirical, with proposals such as the installation of a beer fountain in Vienna, the free provision of a barrel of 50 liters of beer per adult (and 20 liters for a child) per month, or a 50% tax on Radlers and “other atrocities” brands. But its president still defends initiatives in favor of the involvement of young people in politics, the defense of the climate, equal pay and the increase in pensions. Dominik Wlazny, a doctor, had also vaccinated 30 spectators against Covid-19 himself before a concert, reports BFMTV. So many ideas that are starting to look like a real program. Now it is the other parties who have the pressure.