So an estimated 57.4% for the two right-wing parties. Far from great but they got 53.8% in 1999 (according to Wikipedia) when they entered government together, so this isn't completely unprecedented.
Also, the Social Democrats haven't collapsed either, marginally increasing their share of the vote from last time (26.8%)
Do you think there's any chance of an Austrian in-out EU referendum now, or even with a possible new right-wing coalition, does the Eurosceptism only go so far?
There is a zero percent chance that such a referendum will take place. Our country would be fucked economically, if we ever left the EU and everybody (including the people in charge of the Freedom party) know that. Not only is our industry dependant on selling their goods in Europe we also have loads of farmers who would be fucked without EU subsidies. Add to that that tourism would take a huge hit. There is no way any politician in Austria is stupid enough to really want to leave the EU. They use Brussels as a tool to blame for when things aren't going well and they use it so they can look like they're standing up for the "man on the street", but that's about it. You could argue that most of those points were true in connection with Brexit, but I'd argue that there are people/politicians in Britain who think that the country is big and strong enough to make it on its own based on the past. That won't happen in Austria...
And to make it clear. The People's Party (or ÖVP as it's called in German) is NOT a right wing party. They are a conservative (Christian) party like Merkel's CDU. For this election though they've just adopted a stricter approach towards immigration based on the refugee crisis we have faced in recent years. 2015 roughly 90.000 people applied for asylum in Austria 2016 there were 42.000 asylum seekers. In 2016 Austria was fourth in the overall statistics for asylum seekers in Europe behind Germany (612.415), Italy (85.050) and France (61.830). Germany has 80 million inhabitants, Italy and France have around 60 million each. In Austria we have 8 million inhabitants. So, the numbers don't look good in relation to the population. I don't think we have a massive issue with refugees, but the sheer numbers seem to make a lot of people itchy. I don't agree with them, but in the end it influences their vote. The People's Party tried to take advantage of that and they succeeded.
However, I don't think right wing policy has been the main reason for this shift to the right. We have had some other issues in recent years. We've had the Conservatives and Socialists ruling the country for the last ten years or so. They have spent that time fighting each other and not a lot of things have been done. The country is in need of reforms in areas like education, taxes, pensions or administration. Those two parties were just not able to do anything as it all ended with an ideological battle. People have gotten sick of that. So, Sebastian Kurz took over the Conservatives and he gave them a massive boost. Both by adopting this stricter approach to immigration but also by painting himself as someone who'll change things. He was successful, because he's young and seems to appeal to a lot of people. I can't stand the fucker as I think he's a big phony. He has never had a proper job except working for the party or in politics. He started to study law at university, but never finished. He managed to blag his way into the cabinet at the age of 24 and became foreign minister only a couple of years later. He did very little in my view, but that didn't seem to bother voters. He just managed to reinvigorate a party that was basically half dead by being young and dynamic.
Another reason for this shift to the right is that part of the left just imploded. The Green party had 13 or 14 percent of the votes in the last election. In preparation for this one, they "decided" to get involved in internal fights with their own youth organisation, which was ultimatively thrown out of the party. Then they got into a fight with one of their well known Members of Parliament. He decided to leave the party and run himself with a new one. They made 4.3 something percent apparantly and are not in Parliament, while the Green Party is below 4 percent at the moment and might therefore not be. This might still change when all the votes are counted, but it still has weakened the left massively.
I'm not happy about the outcome of the election, as I feel it's another sign that people seem to care more about appearance than actual policy. They've voted for a guy who is 31, has done nothing in life except in politics and only knows to talk about one thing. He hasn't shown that he's competent in anything, but people didn't seem to care about that. It's also still questionable whether he has changed his party and they really are open for reform. Because in the end they still have their old structure in place and that's what held them back before. Add to that, that loads of people voted for the People's and the Freedom Party hoping that they'll take care of the "guy on the street" when they're both basically there for rich people and businesses. A lot of voters will be very disappointed in a couple of years when they are feeling cuts to the social systems and workers rights...
