Austria’s rejection of far-right presidential candidate Norbert Hofer is a rare high note in 2016. Unlike the Brexit referendum and the US elections, this vote was not just a choice between the status quo and change, or the establishment and the fringes. Mainstream politicians had already been eliminated in the first round, leaving only outsiders in the game: a xenophobic gun enthusiast and a green party-backed professor. It was a runoff between greed and solidarity, hatred and empathy, and, potentially war and peace.
The victory of the left-leaning Alexander Van der Bellen has provided many Europhiles with hope for the continent’s future. All across Europe, liberals have celebrated it as a sign that not all countries are turning their backs on rationality and progress. Some have even read it as a positive omen for the 2017 elections in Germany and France.
Yes, there is reason for optimism – but optimism within reason. After all, 46% of Austria’s votes went to a man whose party was partly founded by Nazis with a record of antisemitism and an agenda of anti-Muslim bigotry. The sheer fact that a country in the heart of Europe was so close to electing Europe’s first far-right head of state since the second world war is deeply unsettling.
Like many of its neighbouring countries, Austria’s political centre ground is clinically dead. Reanimating it for the country’s much more meaningful parliamentary elections – expected to be 2018 – will be difficult, if not impossible.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen consoled Hofer and his team on Twitter shortly after their defeat, asserting that “the next parliamentary elections will see their victory”. With current polls suggesting that the Freedom party will win with roughly one-third support over all other parties, Le Pen’s prediction is not that far-fetched. Although, who believes in polling these days?
Regardless of Austria’s fate, it is impossible to overlook the general trend that is emerging across western liberal democracies: a battle against the “corrupt” politicians; the “educated” elites; the “biased” media; the “multicultural” left; and above all against the “others”. Countries who do not have to reserve seats for regressive, far-right party members in their parliaments have become the exception rather than the norm.
Félicitations au FPÖ qui s'est battu avec courage. Les prochaines législatives seront celles de leur victoire ! MLP
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) December 4, 2016
There was much deja vu for Austrians in this election. Yes, there was the fact that they had to complete their ballot papers for the third time this year, after enduring the longest – and most expensive – campaign in Austria’s history. But there was also something much more troubling. When listening to Hofer’s populist-nationalist rhetoric, one could not help but feel reminded of the 1930s. He increasingly hijacked religion as a populist mobilisation tool, to the extent that even Austrian church officials felt compelled to distance themselves from his campaign posters, which read “so help me God”.
Much of the progress achieved over the past century was at stake. Minority rights. Gender equality. Religious freedom. European cooperation. While Hofer wanted to take the country two steps back – chillingly close to the 1930s – we can expect Van der Bellen to take it a step forward.
The outrage of Hofer’s sympathisers was palpable both on social media and in the streets. Similar to the spikes in post-Brexit referendum hate crimes, the Freedom party’s aggressive campaigning has fuelled political violence and hate speech across the country. Since the start of the year, hate crimes against ethnic and religious minorities and re-engagement into Nazi activities have risen at an unprecedented pace.
But finger-pointing is unhelpful. In order for history not to repeat itself, we have to start asking where this aggressive anti-establishment wind that is sweeping across Europe and the US is coming from. We need to dissect the complex cocktail of grievances that has brought us this rough climate in the first place: the marginalisation of majorities whose anger, fear and perceived powerlessness is being transformed into greed, bitterness and hatred.
Overcoming these strong emotions and mending the deep divisions they have caused will be a tremendously difficult task. But with a president who views the strength of his country in its heterogeneity rather than its homogeneity and brings out the best in its population rather than its worst, we are in a good starting position to take on this challenge.
In the 20th century we Austrians have been responsible for history’s most destructive wars. Now we have the chance to show the world that we can be a force that drives peace and solidarity rather than conflict and divisions in the 21st century.
