- Title: Greens celebrate result in Austrian election with drinks and dance
- Date: 29th September 2019
- Summary: VARIOUS OF GREENS SUPPORTERS WITH DRINKS AND DANCING TO THE VENGABOYS SONG "WE'RE GOING TO IBIZA" GREENS SUPPORTERS DANCING TO THE VENGABOYS SONG "WE'RE GOING TO IBIZA"
- Embargoed: 13th October 2019 18:45
- Keywords: Greens Werner Kogler snap election polling station voting
- Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- City: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- Country: Austria
- Reuters ID: LVA002AYPNI2V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Austria's resurgent Greens celebrated historic gains in an election on Sunday (September 29) as Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz triumphed in Sunday's parliamentary election and now faces the task of forming a coalition, with the Greens being one possible partner.
Supporters of the Greens danced to the 1999 sing-a-long party hit "We're Going to Ibiza" by Dutch pop group Vengaboys - a song that hit number 1 in Austria after the government collapsed in May. Heinz-Christian Strache, then the far-right Freedom Party leader and Austria's vice chancellor, resigned after a video emerged showing him on the Spanish Mediterranean island of Ibiza offering to fix state contracts for favors from a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece.
"Who could have expected this result? I certainly didn't," said Rudolf Anschober, state administrator of Upper Austria for integration and the environment. "We knew the mood was good on the streets but the mood doesn't necessarily translate into votes. The result is magnificent. It's the biggest comeback ever in the history of Austrian politics of recent decades and the best result the Greens have ever achieved in Austria."
As predicted by opinion polls for months, Kurz's People's Party (OVP) came a comfortable first, with 37.0% of the vote, according to a projection by pollster SORA for national broadcaster ORF published soon after voting ended.
The Social Democrats came second with 21.8%, their worst result since World War Two but still well ahead of the FPO on 16.0% and the Greens on 14.1%, the projection showed. It had a margin of error of 1.4 percentage points.
Kurz has said he will talk to all parties. His two most likely choices are either to ally with the FPO again or with the Greens and liberal Neos. A centrist coalition with the Social Democrats is possible but unlikely under their current leadership. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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