Norbert Hofer: Austria Election Redo Puts Presidency Within Reach Of Party With Nazi Past
As the result of a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Austria handed down today, Norbert Hofer, a member of the country’s Nazi-founded, right-wing populist Freedom Party, has a legitimate shot at winning a re-do of the country’s May presidential election to be held in September or October, as reported by RT.
Whether Norbert Hofer is “really a Nazi in disguise” was a question pondered by the Telegraph in May.
“Depends on who you talk to,” was the publication’s short answer.
It has been noted by myriad publications, including the Telegraph, and the BBC, that Hofer and members of the Freedom Party wear blue cornflowers, described as being a “secret symbol they [Nazis] used to wear in order to recognize each other” during the 1930s when the party was outlawed in Austria. A “blue cornflower ball” was celebrated by Hofer’s Freedom Party in Untersiebenbrunn in May.
While insisting that the blue cornflower was “not a Nazi symbol,” Bernhard Weidinger, a Vienna-based historian, allowed that Norbert Hofer and the Freedom Party have cultivated “ambivalence” toward the past.
The role of president in Austria is described as being “largely ceremonial,” with the chancellor, newly sworn-in Christian Kern, serving as the head of government. The May presidential election had initially resulted in Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent, winning over Norbert Hofer. It has been noted that the “mainstream” Austrian parties, the Conservatives and Socialists, were both beaten by outsiders.
A previous leader of the Freedom Party, Joerg Haider, who died in a 2008 car accident, is reported to have openly praised the Nazis’ Third Reich. The BBC reports that today, members of the party who espouse Nazi ideology are “silenced.”
Norbert Hofer is reported to be the first far-right leader elected in modern Europe. He is said to be supported by France’s National Front’s Marine Le Pen, Dutch Party for Freedom’s Geert Wilders, and the Alternative for Deutschland’s Frauke Petry.
The election of Hofer as Austria’s president is described as potentially carrying “huge symbolism” and of having the ability to act as a “catalyst” for other populist movements across Europe.
“Yeah, I think so,” Laszlo Maracz with the University of Amsterdam answered when asked if he felt that the June 23 Brexit vote had an impact on the level of “Euroskepticism” on the continent, and if it would have an effect on the rerunning of the Austrian election. The professor described the result of the EU referendum as surprising and likely giving a “boost” to nationalist parties, such as the Freedom Party, led by Norbert Hofer.
The May-Austrian presidential election resulted in Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent, formerly of the Green Party, winning by about 30,000 votes, as reported by the CBC. Van der Bellen captured 50.3 percent of the vote to Norbert Hofer’s 49.7 percent.
The Freedom Party’s win in the Constitutional Court, the highest in the country, is seen as an acknowledgment of the nation’s far-right by the institution. Among the Freedom Party’s complaints that were upheld include an assertion that laws had been broken into 117 electoral districts, which include allegations of ballots being counted outside of the mandated presence of officials.
The Freedom Party is reported to have been initially headed by Anton Reinthaller, who is described as a former Brigadeführer in the Nazi SS. Reinthaller died in 1959, three years after the founding of the party, as reported by Wikipedia. When asked about the blue cornflower’s connection to the Nazis, Norbert Hofer was said to state that he was not associated with Nazis, and he wouldn’t allow them to take a beautiful thing like the cornflower away.
[Photo by Jan Hetfleisch/Getty Images]
