[ad_1]
WWhat does Heinz-Christian Strache become? The Viennese, who led the right-wing FPÖ party after 2005 and rose to the top of the government with xenophobic and nationalist slogans from election to election, wanted to know again after his deep fall in Ibiza in his hometown. That would not have been possible in his old party. At best, they would have tolerated him in their ranks if he had behaved calmly and discreetly after his resignation from all offices in 2019.
The reason was not mainly the video with scandalous statements that the provocateurs had once recorded in Ibiza and whose publication in May last year cost him the position of governor as vice-rector and the position of party leader. In this way, Strache had exposed himself politically and morally to the point that he could no longer hold any public office, but his supporters would not necessarily have turned their backs on him. After all, he was undoubtedly the victim of an intrigue, and was not guilty of anything criminal, as the prosecutor has now formally established.
Did Strache cheat on the accounts?
The reason was primarily accusations that Strache had lived luxuriously in his time as president at the expense of his party and possibly even cheated by paying off his expenses. The prosecution is still investigating this matter. Strache denies these accusations. But the loss of confidence is already enormous. Strache eventually parted ways with the FPÖ and, with the help of some unwavering supporters, started his own list in Vienna. Since Sunday’s elections, it has become clear that the great Viennese comeback has come to nothing. Most likely, mail ballots are still being counted, clearly failed due to the five percent hurdle.
It was clear, even before the elections, that it would no longer be an active political factor. Even if he had made it to Vienna City Hall, that would have meant a (paid) political office for Strache, but no one wanted to work with him. Interestingly, he was still allowed to participate in all the conversations and discussions before the elections. This was due to the fact that some of his loyal supporters, who were still elected from the FPÖ list in 2015, held seats on the municipal council and therefore Strache’s list had a formal parliamentary status. Maybe you didn’t want the slight fear factor taken away from you.
And finally, the old war horse was even more spirited and aggressive than the candidates of the other parties, who defeated their first election as the main candidates: Mayor Michael Ludwig and Deputy Mayor Birgit Hebein as exponents of the red-green government of the city of Vienna, Federal Minister of Finance Gernot Blümel for the ÖVP. , Christoph Wiederkehr by the liberal Neos and Dominik Nepp as Strache’s successor in FPÖ city.
Spicy red-green coalition in Vienna
The election result could be seen as refreshing proof that “elephant rounds” and “television duels” are not everything. Based on the preliminary final result, the SPÖ received about 43 percent, the ÖVP about 18 percent, the Greens about 12 percent, the FPÖ about 9 percent, the Neos about 7 percent and the HC Strache list about 4 percent. Because more than 360,000 voting postcards had to be counted, about 40 percent of the votes, the exact result will likely not be known until Tuesday. But with due caution, no opinion research institute expected the result to change significantly; at best, based on the experience of which sections of the population tend to vote by mail, the SPÖ’s advantage could slightly diminish and the Neos could possibly outperform the FPÖ.
