VIENNA, April 24 (APP/AFP): Austria’s two main centrist ruling parties are set for a bloody nose in Sunday’s presidential election at the hands of the far-right and the Greens two years before a general election.
The Social Democrats (SPOe) and the centre-right People’s Party (OeVP) have dominated Austrian politics since 1945 and form the current government under Chancellor Werner Faymann.
The country’s president, who has a largely but not entirely ceremonial role, has also usually come from these two parties or had their backing as independents.
But on Sunday surveys suggest that neither the SPOe’s Rudolf Hundstorfer nor the OeVP’s Andreas Khol will make it into a run-off on May 22.
Instead, leading the polls are Norbert Hofer of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe); Alexander van der Bellen, backed by the Greens; and the independent candidate Irmgard Griss.
In a tight race, van der Bellen is projected to get around 26 percent, Hofer 24 percent and Griss 21 percent, well ahead of Hundstorfer and Khol on 15 and 11 percent respectively.