Premature jubilation?

SPÖ hopes for a left-wing awakening after French elections

The left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is considered unpredictable

(Bild: APA/AP)

The SPÖ is trying to take advantage of the completely surprising victory of the left-wing alliance in France and present it as a new departure. "I congratulate the entire alliance on the great result. Contrary to all the polls, it has once again been shown that the right can be stopped," posted SPÖ leader Andreas Babler, encouraging the party.

Similar sentiments come from the Vienna SPÖ: "The elections in France have shown: If enough people are mobilized, even an expected shift to the right can be prevented. We warmly congratulate the left-wing alliance @nouveau.front.populaire on their election victory!"

Filzmaier: "Cries of joy premature and exaggerated"
Political scientist Peter Filzmaier considers these cries of joy to be premature and exaggerated. The effect on Austrian election day in two and a half months' time will be minimal. "This is merely a one-day success in political campaign communication, nothing more and nothing less. The only trend you can read from it is that it is difficult for those in power," he says in an interview with the Krone.

The same applies to the UK, where the 14-year reign of the Conservative Party has come to an end and Labour, despite making only small percentage gains, has more than doubled the number of seats in the House of Commons and is now the new British Prime Minister.

The ÖVP interprets the result in France as a warning sign that the left or right fringes or the extremes will be further strengthened. "In such a situation, the center loses and we want to prevent that in Austria," says ÖVP Secretary General Christian Stocker to the "Krone". "If the center is lost, it becomes unbalanced, regardless of whether it moves to the right or the left."

ÖVP wants to keep the pendulum "in the middle"
"You can also see that sometimes left and right are not so different in the result. Unfortunately, the pendulum always swings in the extreme direction. And if you look at the USA, it's even more dramatic." The challenge in Austria will be "to keep this pendulum in the middle".

"With the people, where common sense, reason and normality are at home. And radical solutions have never brought progress. Western democracy must defend itself more strongly today than in the past, against attacks from the left and right and against political Islam, "because for us it is law and order and not honor and shame".

Kickl very silent on defeat
The FPÖ also tried to ride the wave of success that brought a landslide victory for the right with 33% in the first round of the election. "I am keeping my fingers crossed for our French friends from the Rassemblement National for today's second round of the elections. The time is ripe for honest patriotic politics!", FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl posted under a photo with his French counterpart Jordan Bardella before the second round of the elections. Kickl did not comment on the defeat of his French friends.