AUSTRIA:DOUBT SURROUNDS Austria's future political path at home and in Brussels after two extreme right, EU-critical parties recorded huge gains in the weekend general election, writes Derek Scallyin Berlin
The two rival populist parties capitalised on widespread voter discontent with the two main parties - the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and conservative People's Party ÖVP - to capture 29 per cent of the vote, according to final results.
The populists finished just 30,000 votes behind the winning SPÖ, prompting claims that the Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) had shattered the country's post-war election system.
The SPÖ won the poll despite hitting a historic low of 29.7 per cent support. That could make it difficult for Werner Faymann, the party leader and likely future chancellor. He favours another grand coalition with the ÖVP of the kind that has ruled Austria on and off for decades.
The last grand coalition collapsed after two bad-tempered years in July after Mr Faymann vowed to introduce ratification by referenda for future EU treaties.
The ÖVP attacked the policy change as a broadside against the EU and, with an eye on its own modest poll lead, walked out of office.
However, within weeks the ÖVP's poll lead had evaporated and it finished the weekend election with 25.6 per cent, down nine points on the 2006 election.
After heading a lacklustre campaign, ÖVP party leader Wilhelm Molterer resigned last night and was replaced by his deputy leader Josef Pröll.
New ÖVP faces at the negotiating table could give talks a shot in the arm, but analysts suggested that the tectonic shift in Austria's political landscape could make coalition-building difficult and lead to a fundamental shift in Austria's EU policy, analysts said yesterday.
"You can turn the election result as you wish, but the pro-Europeans have lost and the EU opponents gained strongly," said Dr Peter Ulram, politics professor at the University of Vienna and a poll analyst.
"It's a departure from the country's EU path to date. The question is whether the ÖVP will have the spine to demand from the SPÖ in coalition talks a continuation of the current EU line."
Many leading newspapers picked up on the consequences for EU membership in their post-election coverage.
Der Standard said that Sunday's result meant "core Europeans in the union have, until further notice, lost a dependable partner - Austria."
Profil magazine ran on its cover images of populist leaders Jörg Haider and Karl-Heinz Strache under the headline in gothic script: "Sieg . . ." (victory).
Many analysts saw the vote as the expression of voter frustration with established political leaders rather than a massive swing to the extreme right.
"Austria won't become another troublesome Poland, but a kind of symbolic gesture will be needed to please the Krone," said Thomas Hofer, analyst at HP Public Affairs.
"I don't predict any major change in EU policy in Austria, but some kind of symbolic gesture to consult public opinion."