Austria Election 2019: Sebastian Kurz’s People’s Party win visibly but needs Coalition Partners
Peoples Party has received majority of the potential 6.4 million eligible voters in Sunday’s election.
With counting of votes almost complete People’s Party has about 37% of the vote, up from 31% last time round.
The far-right Freedom Party (former coalition partners of People’s Party which broke after a scandal), have faced a sharp fall in getting votes by getting only about 16% of votes.
The People’s Party (ÖVP) succeeded in eight of Austria’s nine federal states, losing only Vienna to the Social Democrats (SPÖ), which gained 21.7% of the overall vote – but still needs coalition partners as it will not have a majority in parliament.
Greater chances are that the Peoples Party again consider alliance with the Freedom Party while having other options too as plan B.
The snap general election was called after secret recordings published in May led to the government’s collapse.
The video sting, which became known as “Ibizagate”, exposed a conversation in which then-leader of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) Heinz-Christian Strache is heard promising government contracts to a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch at a villa on the Spanish island.