Austria's president-elect talks of uniting his divided country
- 8 years ago
Supporters of former Greens party leader, Alexander Van der Bellen, are breathing sighs of relief after Austria came close to becoming the first European Union country to elect a far-right head of state.
Instead, after postal votes were counted following Sunday’s too-close-to-call poll, environmentalist Van der Bellen won by the narrowest of victories – only around 31,000 votes separated winner and loser. The victor immediately spoke of uniting his country in his first address.
“Obviously many people in this country feel they have not been seen or heard enough, or both. We will need a different culture of communication, politics that does not focus so much on itself or on publicity but on the real issues, real concerns and fears and even on the anger of some people in this country,” said Van der Bellen.
Cartoon of the Day: Elections in #Austria https://t.co/gP2w2I4VVk Via operamundi Cc Die_Gruenen pic.twitter.com/0ZtT50deZt— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) May 23, 2016
Far-ri
Instead, after postal votes were counted following Sunday’s too-close-to-call poll, environmentalist Van der Bellen won by the narrowest of victories – only around 31,000 votes separated winner and loser. The victor immediately spoke of uniting his country in his first address.
“Obviously many people in this country feel they have not been seen or heard enough, or both. We will need a different culture of communication, politics that does not focus so much on itself or on publicity but on the real issues, real concerns and fears and even on the anger of some people in this country,” said Van der Bellen.
Cartoon of the Day: Elections in #Austria https://t.co/gP2w2I4VVk Via operamundi Cc Die_Gruenen pic.twitter.com/0ZtT50deZt— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) May 23, 2016
Far-ri