- Title: Kurz calls result historic for his People's Party
- Date: 29th September 2019
- Summary: VIENNA, AUSTRIA (SEPTEMBER 29, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PEOPLE'S PARTY LEADER AND FORMER CHANCELLOR SEBASTIAN KURZ ARRIVING AT ELECTION CENTRE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PEOPLE'S PARTY LEADER AND FORMER CHANCELLOR SEBASTIAN KURZ, SAYING: "Well, to be honest, it's an amazing result. We are extremely thankful, it's a historic day for the People's Party in Austria and we are so thankful for the support of the people in our country. Now we will try our best to serve the Republic of Austria." (Reporter asking: 'What will be the first thing that you will do?') "The first thing is that I would like to thank our voters. It's incredible, it's an amazing day, it's a historic result for our party. And then we will try to have good talks with all the other parties in the parliament and then try to form a government that works for the people of Austria. Thank you." KURZ WALKING AWAY GREEN PARTY LEADER WERNER KOGLER ARRIVING AND TALKING TO REPORTERS / WALKING AWAY SOCIAL DEMOCRATS LEADER PAMELA RENDI-WAGNER ARRIVING KOGLER WALKING INTO ELECTION CENTRE, SAYING (English): 'We come back stronger." FREEDOM PARTY LEADER NORBERT HOFER WALKING INTO BUILDING KURZ WALKING INTO BUILDING PEOPLE'S PARTY SUPPORTERS GATHERING AT OVP PARTY HUB (SOUNDBITE) (German) PEOPLE'S PARTY SUPPORTER MICHAELA DAUM, SAYING: "It's great, amazing. We have campaigned so much to have Sebastian (Kurz) as chancellor again and we are extremely pleased. It's a dream result. I am in it for so long already and I have never experienced something like this. 37.2 percent, thanks to all the voters and to the many volunteers. We are extremely happy about it. The joy is enormous." (SOUNDBITE) (German) PEOPLE'S PARTY SUPPORTER PAVLE PULAKIC, SAYING: "I expected it that there will be definitely a plus for the party and I am happy that it was such a huge improvement, it's definitely a wonderful result." (SOUNDBITE) (German) PEOPLE'S PARTY SUPPORTER JULIAN SCHNEITNER, SAYING: "It's extremely good, it's unbelievable. We would have never expected this, it's just unbelievable, it's amazing." PEOPLE'S PARTY SUPPORTERS ROMAN MARQUARDT AND MELITTA MARQUARDT TAKING SELFIE (SOUNDBITE) (German) PEOPLE'S PARTY SUPPORTERS ROMAN MARQUARDT, SAYING: "We didn't expect such a high result, but of course we wished for it and are very happy about it." BACK OF BLUE SUPPORTER'S T-SHIRT READING (German): 'WE FOR KURZ' (SOUNDBITE) (German) PEOPLE'S PARTY SUPPORTERS ROMAN MARQUARDT AND MELITTA MARQUARDT, SAYING: "I think it will the Sebastian Kurz' goal to form the government as quickly as possible and be able to work actively. This was always his goal and we are looking forward to him being able to work again." PEOPLE'S PARTY SUPPORTERS AT PARTY HUB
- Embargoed: 13th October 2019 19:12
- Keywords: snap election first results
- Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- City: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- Country: Austria
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA001AYPNIVB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz triumphed in Sunday's parliamentary election, in which the scandal-tainted far right took a beating and the Greens made gains, leaving Kurz the option of forming a coalition with either of them or others.
"We are extremely thankful, it's a historic day for the People's Party in Austria and we are so thankful for the support of the people in our country", Kurz told reporters as he arrived at the main election centre in Vienna.
The election followed the collapse in May of Kurz's coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) after a video sting scandal that forced FPO Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache to step down.
Kurz, 33, has emerged largely unscathed from the scandal, even gaining voters from the FPO as it suffered from further allegations last week over lavish and possibly fraudulent expenses Strache claimed from the party.
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 resurgent Greens on 14.1%, the projection showed. It had a margin of error of 1.4 percentage points.
(Production: Fedja Grulovic, Ayhan Uyanik, Ulrike Heil) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None