🇦🇹 Austrian Elections & Politics 6.0 - Upper Austria election: 26 Sept. 2021

[DavidB.]

Chancellor Schallenberg and Finance Minister Blümel, both ÖVP, just resigned. What's next? New elections?

[DavidB.]

Why did Schallenberg resign ?

He doesn't want to be ÖVP leader and thinks the Chancellor should also lead the ÖVP. Nehammer is much more of a party machine guy than Schallenberg. It would be strange if one were party leader and the other Chancellor. Essentially, with Nehammer now leading the ÖVP, the party shifted back from "turquoise" to "black", into the hands of the old party elite of which Nehammer is part.

[DavidB.]

What's driving up FPÖ support lately? Disappointment over the ÖVP? I noticed that they rebounded nationally as well, competing with the SPÖ for first place, even polling slightly ahead in most surveys.

In addition to the Russia issue, which was mentioned before, there's also the issue of immigration being way up again and COVID (which in hindsight mostly benefited incumbent governments) being completely forgotten already.

But I'd also say it's just a return to the standard level of support to which they always bounce back after an electoral setback - about 25%. Ibizagate has faded out of people's memory and was overshadowed by Kurz' scandal. ÖVP leader Nehammer is a party machine man, not a charismatic leader or a vote magnet for the Austrian right. And Kickl seems to be doing a solid job in uniting the party and picking a political line that resonates with many voters - not too moderate, not too extreme.

[DavidB.]

I'll add that, rather disgracefully in my opinion, the KPÖ is anti-BDS.
https://m.jpost.com/international/austria-communist-party-rejects-bds-recalls-nazi-boycott-of-jews-684434

Most people don't think Austrians boycotting Jews was a particularly fortunate moment in history.

[DavidB.]

Burgenland governor Hans Peter Doskozil will be the new leader of the SPÖ. He won 33.68% in the internal leadership election. It was a close result: 31.51% voted for Andreas Babler, 31.35% for current leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner. This means FPÖ-SPÖ probably becomes more realistic. On the 3rd of June, there will be a party congress to make things official - Babler and Rendi-Wagner are expected to accept the result according to Austrian state media ORF.