Judgement day in Austria

It’s election day. One of the most important since decades. Today, Austria will choose its new president and future political course: will it turn right of left?

Most Viennese, like my roommate Caroline with whom i went to see a soccer game today, hope for the second. But according to the vote polls, the left wing and ‘green’ candidate Alexander van der Bellen has a bit less than fifty-fifty chance against his right wing opponent Norbert Hofer from the ‘blue’ party FPÖ. And that’s worrying a lot of people around here, I noticed.

Earlier this week I talked to a woman during my lunchbreak on a terrace in the 8th district. She seemed very angry and frustrated about the current political climate in Austria, as Hofer – who is said to have extreme right ideas – is so popular in the rest of her country. But: ‘In Wien kann man noch leben’ (‘here it’s still livable’).

Let’s hope it stays this way after today’s elections. As for now, I am cheering the ‘red’ party.