Everything you Need to Know About the Austrian Federal Presidential Election
This Sunday, Austria will hold its federal presidential elections. The current incumbent, Alexander Van der Bellen, has to face his rivals after his six-year term. Read on to find out who the six opposing candidates are!
On Sunday, it will be decided who will be Austria's Federal President for the next 6 years. / Picture: © Dennis Jarvis/ Flickr Attribution (CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
On 22 May 2022, Alexander Van der Bellen announced that he would stand again as a candidate for the federal presidential election in October.
Van der Bellen's first term in office was characterised above all by many political and global crises in which Van der Bellen had to distinguish himself as a crisis manager, Vindobona reported.
The 78-year-old thus plans to represent the Republic of Austria for another legislative term. Besides him, 6 other candidates will stand.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Van der Bellen
Van der Bellen is the current Federal President of the Republic of Austria. Before his engagement in the Hofburg, he was the federal spokesman of the left-minded Green Party in Austria and a university professor of economics at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Vienna. He is 78 years old and is considered politically very experienced.
Dr. Walter Rosenkranz
Walter Rosenkranz is running for the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which is on the right of the political spectrum. The 60-year-old was a member of the National Council for many years and was the FPÖ's Klubobmann there from 2017 to May 2019.
Rosenkranz studied law at the University of Vienna from 1980 to 1989, graduating with a doctorate. Dr. Rosenkranz is a long-time politician and brings a lot of experience with him.
Dr. Dominik Wlazny
At 35, Dominik Wlazny is by far the youngest candidate in the field. He gained fame as a musician and lead singer of the punk band "Turbobier" (Turbobeer). In 2015 he founded the "Bie Partei" (Beer-Party).
The party, originally founded as a satire project, continued to develop and entered the Viennese parliament for the first time in 2020. Wlazny is a trained medical doctor and completed his medical studies at the Medical University of Vienna in 2012. Wlazny is considered a newcomer and has relatively little political experience.
Dr. Tassilo Wallentin, M.D.
Tassilo Wallentin is an Austrian author, columnist and lawyer. He completed his doctoral studies in law at the University of Innsbruck in spring 1998. In 2004, Wallentin founded his own law firm.
From 2013 to 2022, he wrote a column every Sunday in the Sunday supplement of the Kronen Zeitung, Austria's largest newspaper. The 48-year-old is a political newcomer and tends to be politically right of centre.
Gerald Grosz
Gerald Grosz is an Austrian columnist, author and former politician for the FPÖ and the BZÖ. He was a member of the National Council from October 2008 to October 2013.
Afterwards, he was Federal Chairman of the BZÖ from October 2013 to March 2015, as well as Provincial Chairman of the BZÖ Styria from June 2005 to March 2015. The 45-year-old is right of centre and brings with him a lot of political experience.
Mag. Dr. Michael Brunner
Michael Brunner is an Austrian lawyer as well as the federal party leader of the party "Österreich Menschen – Freiheit – Grundrechte" (Austria People - Freedom - Fundamental Rights) (MFG). The party was founded in the context of protests against protective measures against the COVID-19 pandemic and is considered part of the lateral thinking movement in Austria.
Brunner studied law at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1990 with a doctorate in law. Michael Brunner is 61 years old and says he would immediately dismiss the entire federal government and force the repeal of all remaining COVID-19 measures.
Heinrich Staudinger
Heinrich Staudinger is an Austrian entrepreneur. The 69-year-old became known for his shoe brand "Waldviertler", which achieved international fame. Staudinger is an absolute newcomer to politics and is politically rather left-wing.