With the Austrian presidential elections happening this year in April, we look back at previous facts and interesting tidbits since the beginning of the 2nd Republic (Started after World War 2). Even though Austrians have voted in 15 different elections spanning 12 terms of Presidency, the “crown” has only been worn by 7 different men.
Tradition
This small number is due to the fact that every single president, who didn’t die during his first tenure and was up for re-election, was granted a second term. Whoever wins in the elections in April might (if he or she wants and is still alive) be in the same position until 2028!
Male and well educated
So far, only four of the 31 candidates on the ballot card were female – therefore it is a great change to have Irmgard Griss, who’ll most likely run for president, set the lead for more female candidates. All the previous candidates share quite a good education – only 9 of 31 people do not have a Doctor’s degree.
The Showdown in the run-off
In the second Republic, there have been three run-offs so far: 1951, 1986, and 1992. Even though there is quite little data, a tendency cannot be ignored: If three or more candidates have over 5% in the first election, then the winner of the first election might not become president. This happened in 1992 when Klestil lost to Streicher in the first round but then was able to win the run-off nevertheless.
With so many prosperous candidates in 2016 we can expect the vote to change quite a lot and we look forward to a race that keeps us interested until the last vote is counted.
ARYTHMOS 