Austria’s Far-Right Blocked from Power Despite Election Victory

[RayC]

9 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Your word is waaaay too Socialist for America. We dont do adoration, unless its college heroes like Che.

 

No, I have an American passport and get to live in the greatest country on Earth and in a nice Tropical paradise and soon another tropical paradise. My life is abfab, hbu? How much do you pay for  gas (petrol) or electric? You even have a car? You here in the warmth?

 

If English was your first language, you would be less of a target.

 

Keep screaming.

 

Now calm down, dear. Just sit there quietly for a little while. I'll get you a nice drink.

 

"I've given him a sedative, nurse. Hopefully, it will give us some respite".

[Baht Simpson]

On 3/1/2025 at 1:07 PM, RayC said:

 

The only way democracy has been subverted in Austria was by not allowing the FPO - as the largest party - the first chance to form a government. However, it clearly made no difference as no other parties are willing to work with them.

 

The situation now is a coalition government which has a majority in parliament and represents a majority of the votes cast. Seems very democratic to me. However, whether this coalition administration can remain intact and govern successful are totally different matters.

 

The two-party system in the UK often returns governments with large majorities, but it is inherently undemocratic. The last time that a single party received >50% of the votes cast was in 1931. The US system isn't much better as everything hinges on winning the 'swing states': Clinton won 2.9m more votes than Trump in 2016 but Trump still became President.

Indeed. 29.8 % is nowhere near enough to declare an outright win and therefore form a government. In 2010 the Labour Party got the largest popular vote at 35% and were unable to form a government. The Tories had less at 32% but formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. 

 

The right-wing dearies on here will have you believe it's a subversion of democracy when it's actually the democratic process that all parties have signed up to, including the FPO. In fact the same process could have worked in their favour if they hadn't been so reviled.

[Yagoda]

1 hour ago, RayC said:

 

Now calm down, dear. Just sit there quietly for a little while. I'll get you a nice drink.

 

"I've given him a sedative, nurse. Hopefully, it will give us some respite".

Translation: Im projecting as we always do

[RayC]

4 hours ago, Hanaguma said:

Quick question- in multi-party countries, is it common for the party with the most votes/seats (but not an outright majority) to be denied the first chance to form a government? I haven't heard of it happening before, but I may be wrong.  

 

I'm not sure if it's common but it certainly isn't unprecedented. I suspect that it depends on the individual nation's constitution.

 

For example, the 2010 UK General Election resulted in a 'hung' parliament i.e. no one party had an overall majority. The Conservatives won the most seats, however, Labour were the incumbent government and had first chance to form a new coalition government with the third party, the Liberal Democrats. It turned out that the Lib-Dems rejected Labour's overtures and formed a coalition government with the Conservatives.

 

4 hours ago, Hanaguma said:

Seems to me that bureaucratic Euro-lefties are afraid of their own people. I checked about the FPO in Austria, but couldn'T find anything terribly radical or dangerous in their policies. Just standard right of centre populism.

 

I think that you need to delve a bit deeper into the FP's recent past. They have 'form' as the saying goes. Many of their leading figures in the past had Nazi connections. It might be argued that most of these individuals are no longer around, however, when they were last in power in 2017, the Chancellor was caught on tape stating that he would effectively try to suppress any anti-government reporting (search for 'Ibiza Affair').

 

I don't think that it is a surprise that other parties are unwilling to engage with the FP.