Austrian presidential election, 2016

Austrian presidential election, 2016

24 April/22 May 2016

President before election Heinz Fischer Independent Elected President TBD

Austria
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Austria
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Presidential elections will be held in Austria on 24 April 2016, with a run-off on 22 May 2016, if necessary.^[1] Incumbent president Heinz Fischer has served two terms and is not eligible to be elected for a third successive term.

Candidates

SPÖ: The most likely candidate of the Social Democratic Party was considered to be Labour Minister Rudolf Hundstorfer, though First President of the National Council Doris Bures, Franz Vranitzky (former Chancellor of Austria from 1986 to 1997) and former undersecretary for EU affairs and businesswoman Brigitte Ederer were also mentioned.^[2][3] On 15 January 2016, Rudolf Hundstorfer was officially announced as the SPÖ's candidate.^[4]

ÖVP: Justice Minister Wolfgang Brandstetter (considered a possible, if unlikely ÖVP candidate) declined to stand on 26 December 2015.^[5] On 7 January 2016, ÖVP leader Reinhold Mitterlehner announced that Erwin Pröll, the Landeshauptmann of Lower Austria, would not be running, to much surprise (as many had predicted he was almost certainly going to be the ÖVP's candidate).^[6] Josef Pühringer, Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria, who had also occasionally been mentioned as an (unlikely) candidate, explicitly declined to stand on 8 January 2016.^[7] Franz Fischler (former Austrian European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004) and Othmar Karas (highly respected Member of the European Parliament) also both stated they were not the ÖVP candidate on 8 January 2016, while Wirtschaftskammerpräsident Christoph Leitl only said he would not comment before the official announcement by the party leadership on 10 January 2016.^[8] Even controversial former chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (from 2000 to 2007) was briefly considered as a candidate (but he also declined).^[9] On 10 January 2016, former first president of the National Council Andreas Khol was officially announced as the ÖVP's candidate.^[10]

Other names mentioned were former Science Minister and university professor Karlheinz Töchterle, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz (who was too young too stand, not yet being 35 years old), former Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik (who was in office from 2004 to 2008, and most recently Austria's ambassador to France, about to be reassigned to Switzerland), former Raiffeisen Zentralbank manager Christian Konrad (currently the government's point man on refugee issues; he stated he was not a candidate on 8 January 2016), former Landeshauptfrau of Styria Waltraud Klasnic (in office from 1996 to 2005) and president of the Salzburg Festival Helga Rabl-Stadler, both of whom were considered unlikely to run.^[11][12][13] This left Plassnik and Leitl as possible candidates as of 8 January 2016. Later in the day, rumours indicated that former first president of the National Council Andreas Khol would be the ÖVP's candidate.^[14]

FPÖ: Norbert Hofer (third president of the National Council), who had been considered the most likely FPÖ candidate, said on 28 December 2015 that he considered himself too young for the office and that he would prefer his party to pick someone else as its candidate.^[15] Possible candidates include president of the Austrian Court of Audit Josef Moser, Ursula Stenzel (former district mayor of Vienna's 1st District from 2005 to 2015 and also former Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2006, both for the ÖVP),^[16] ombudsman Peter Fichtenbauer^[17] and possibly party leader Heinz-Christian Strache himself.^[18] Former Social Affairs Minister Ursula Haubner was considered a very unlikely candidate.^[19] As of 11 January 2016, Fichtenbauer, Moser and Stenzel continued to be the most likely candidates.^[20] Strache announced on 13 January 2016 that he would not be running himself, and that it was still open whether the FPÖ would nominate anyone at all.^[21] In mid-January, Vienna vice-mayor Johann Gudenus and former FPÖ leader and former vice-chancellor (from 1983 to 1987) Norbert Steger were also mentioned as possible candidates.^[22] On 19 January 2016, author and Middle East/migration pundit Karin Kneissl (well-known for her right-wing views) was mentioned as being recruited by the FPÖ to run,^[23] which she quickly declined.^[24][25] Former Justice Minister Dieter Böhmdorfer, members of parliament Harald Stefan and Johannes Hübner and MEP Barbara Kappel were also mentioned as possible candidates.^[26] On 20 January 2016, media reported that Gudenus had been internally selected as the FPÖ's candidate;^[27] on 26 January 2016, reports claimed Stenzel would be announced on 28 January 2016 as the FPÖ's candidate.^[28] Amid strong FPÖ-internal dissent, there were rumours the party leadership had been forced to reconsider, and that Hofer was now the most likely option, after all,^[29] with Gudenus also still in play.^[30] Commentators opined that the backtracking was a notable defeat for Strache.^[31][32] Norbert Hofer was announced as the FPÖ's candidate on 28 January 2016.^[33]

Greens: In early January 2016, it was announced that former Greens party leader Alexander Van der Bellen would not be running as the Greens' “official” candidate, as that would have required a party convention decision; this was also framed as an attempt to put personality above party politics in the election.^[34] Van der Bellen officially announced his candidacy on 8 January 2016 in a YouTube video.^[35] NEOS leader Strolz stated that they would consider giving him the same support as Griss, depending on the same kind of hearing she went through.^[36]

Team Stronach: As of 22 January 2016, the Team Stronach was still considering whether to nominate a candidate; MP Ulla Weigerstorfer was briefly considered, but she declined.^[37]

Others: Independent candidate Irmgard Griss, a former Supreme Court of Justice judge and its president, officially declared her candidacy on 17 December 2015. She presented her candidacy to both the Freedom Party of Austria and NEOS, but both declined to endorse her.^[38] NEOS said they would support Griss and any other independent candidates indirectly, and voiced their concerns over the strong partisan politicization of the presidential office and the election campaign.^[39] NEOS leader Matthias Strolz stated on 9 February 2016 that NEOS might also support Van der Bellen, voicing his preference for a run-off election between Griss and Van der Bellen.^[40]

Richard Lugner, society figure, businessman and previously candidate for president in 1998, was reportedly also considering running once more,^[41] and stated on 8 February 2016 that he would very likely be running.^[42] He announced his candidacy on 10 February 2016, citing a poll done him by the questionable Humaninstitut which showed him getting 10% (behind Van der Bellen at 27%, Hundstorfer at 18%, Hofer at 17%, Griss at 15% and Khol at 13%).^[43] Martin Wabl, who had previously attempted to run in 1998, 2004 and 2010, but failed to gather the necessary number of signatures of support, stated he would try to run once again.^[44] Ulrich Habsburg-Lothringen, whose initiative to get the so-called “Habsburger-Paragraf” (which had precluded members of the former ruling house from running for president) proved successful in 2011, stated he would like to run for president, but only if a political party decided to support him.^[45] Adrien Jean-Pierre Luxemburg-Wellenstein announced on 8 December 2015 he would run for president.^[46] Author El Awadalla (also known for winning the Austrian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) announced her run on 12 January 2016. (She had previously run for the left-wing alliance Wien anders in the 2015 Viennese state election.)^[47] Local activist Franz Stieger (known in Krems for his numerous conflicts with local officials and government agencies) announced his candidacy on 13 January 2016.^[48] Further independent candidates who announced their runs were Gustav Jobstmann,^[49] Thomas Unden (a general practitioner who had stated he would refuse to treat asylum seekers),^[50] Gernot Pointner,^[51] Alois Merz,^[52] Georg Zakrajsek of the Interessengemeinschaft Liberales Waffenrecht Österreich (a fringe gun rights group),^[53] Karin Kolland,^[54][55] Robert Marschall of the EU Exit Party^[56] and Thomas Reitmayer of the Austrian version of the satirical political party Die PARTEI.^[57]

Opinion polls

Publication date	Poll source	Sample size							Others/ Undecided
			Hundstorfer SPÖ	Khol ÖVP	Hofer FPÖ	Van der Bellen Greens	Griss Ind.	Lugner Ind.
2016
5 Feb	Hajek/ATV (run-off polls)	700	15	17	20	29	18	—	—
			15	17	18	29	17	3	—
			34	29	—	—	—	—	—
			28	—	—	34	—	—	—
			32	—	—	—	34	—	—
			—	30	—	37	—	—	—
			—	—	27	39	—	—	—
			—	—	—	32	32	—	—
4 Feb	Gallup/ÖSTERREICH	400	17	13	19	28	22	—	—
			17	13	18	27	19	7	—
30 Jan	OGM/Kurier	504	23	14	17	26	20	—	—
28 Jan	Gallup/ÖSTERREICH	400	17	15	8	33	27	—	—

Hypothetical polls with candidates who did not run 

Publication date	Poll source	Sample size												Others/ Undecided
			Hundstorfer SPÖ	Bures SPÖ	Khol ÖVP	Pröll ÖVP	Leitl ÖVP	Hofer FPÖ	Moser FPÖ	Strache FPÖ	Van der Bellen Greens	Griss Ind.	Lugner Ind.
2016
22 Jan	Unique Research/Heute	500	15	—	13	—	—	—	—	18	32	21	—	1
			16	—	16	—	—	13			31	22	—	2
17 Jan	meinungsraum.at/ORF Im Zentrum	500	16	—	19	—	—	—	4	—	33	28	—	—
14 Jan	Gallup/ÖSTERREICH	400	16	—	19	—	—	—	3	—	31	31	—	—
			13	—	16	—	—	—	—	21	25	20	5	—
2015
22 Dec	M&R-Institut/NÖN	1,000	32.6	—	—	43.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	24.4
			—	—	—	46.4	—	—	—	—	34.5	—	—	19.1
			—	—	—	40.1	—	—	—	—	—	35.0	—	24.9
19 Dec	Gallup/ÖSTERREICH	400	12	—	—	19	—	—	9	—	29	31	—	—
29 Nov	Gallup/ÖSTERREICH	400	23	—	—	31	—	10	—	—	36	—	—	—
	Gallup/ÖSTERREICH		—	21	—	—	27	11	—	—	41	—	—	—
25 Oct	Gallup/ÖSTERREICH	400	—	20	—	—	29	9	—	—	39	—	—	3
25 Aug	Gallup/ÖSTERREICH	400	18	—	—	26	—	13	—	—	41	—	—	2
2014
20 Jul	Gallup/ÖSTERREICH	400	25	—	—	36	—	10	—	—	29	—	—	—

References

Elections and referendums in Austria As Cisleithania (1848–1918) Imperial Council elections 1848 1867 1871–72 1873 1879 1885 1891 1897 1900–01 1907 1911 Republic of Austria (1918–present) Parliamentary elections 1919 1920 1923 1927 1930 1945 1949 1953 1956 1959 1962 1966 1970 1971 1975 1979 1983 1986 1990 1994 1995 1999 2002 2006 2008 2013 next Presidential elections 1951 1957 1963 1965 1971 1974 1980 1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2016 European elections 1996 1999 2004 2009 2014 Referendums 1938 1978 1994 2013