Almost half of all Austrians are in favor of new elections in the wake of the false statements allegations against Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
For Kurz, however, this is still no cause for concern.
Vienna - Every second Austrian wants new elections. This is the result of an AUSTRIA survey that the Research Affairs Institute carried out among a thousand participants in the past week, as
reported by
OE24
. Around 46 percent of those surveyed voted in favor of new elections. And the approval ratings for the ÖVP are also falling, as are the approval ratings for Sebastian Kurz.
The background is likely that Kurz is accused of deliberately telling the untruth in a committee of inquiry.
He had denied that he had supported his confidante Thomas Schmid in becoming chairman of the powerful state holding company ÖBAG.
In the meantime, short messages from the Chancellor sound a little different.
“I like to call him, I'm just not sure whether that will help ?!” he is said to have written to Schmid, among others.
Survey in Austria: 46 percent of citizens want new elections - Briefly in distress?
Kurz himself continues to deny having deliberately told the untruth.
Kurz later said that his questioning took a long time and was very heated.
The Ibiza investigation committee deals - beyond the Ibiza video about the then FPÖ chairman Heinz-Christian Strache - with corruption allegations against the ÖVP and FPÖ government at the time.
The video had led to the collapse of the Austrian government and - after new elections to a new government under Kurz.
Kurz´ÖVP has been ruling together with the Greens since January 2020.
Survey results in Austria are still good for Sebastian Kurz
However, the fact that almost half of all citizens are in favor of new elections does not cause Kurz to be disturbed.
Because if there were elections in the near future, 34 percent would still vote for the ÖVP.
Although this is the worst value since summer 2019, it is still a big advantage over the competition.
According to the survey, the SPÖ comes to 22 percent, the FPÖ to 17 percent, and the NEOS to 12 percent.
And the Greens would only come in 5th place with 11 percent.
Even for Kurz himself, the survey results are still looking good: Here Kurz only loses 2 percent and, at 41 percent, is still well ahead of the other parties.
(kat)
