For the previous few weeks, Marco Pogo, the founding father of the Beer Party, has been revelling in a surprising upward push in reputation in Austria amid extraordinary media hobby.
The explanation why? He got here 3rd within the presidential election on 9 October.
A result’s all of the extra spectacular in Vienna, the place Dominik Wlazny — this is his actual identify — got here 2d.
The 10.7% of votes he gained in his native land, then again, weren’t sufficient for him to unseat the re-elected incumbent, Alexander Van der Bellen.
At 35 years and 10 months, Wlazny additionally become the youngest-ever candidate to run for president within the Alpine nation. According to Austrian legislation, electorate underneath 35 years of age can’t run for that place of job.
The punk rocker gained Euronews in his headquarters within the eleventh district of the Austrian capital, between an interview with a German outlet and a reside broadcast on an Austrian radio station, to speak extra about his marketing campaign and the end result.
“I am atypical. I am not a normal politician, nor do I want to be,” he stated by means of advent.
“I spoke directly to young people about issues that concern me — I am also young,” Wlazny informed Euronews.
“It’s about the future, it’s about climate protection, it’s about solidarity. These are the themes that interest young people.”
‘Ministry of Future-Oriented Ideas’
During its marketing campaign within the run-up to the October election, the Beer Party depended on one of the vital nice ideas of punk: do it your self, or DIY.
Despite his birthday celebration’s restricted sources, the person whose degree identify is a play on phrases combining Marco Polo and a dance the place the purpose is to “mess everything up” is clearly glad.
“I am extremely satisfied with the result. We have a very small team compared to other parties. The budget for this election campaign was very small. I was only able to put up nine large posters in the whole of Vienna,” Wlazny defined.
“But I could make videos to spread my ideas all over the world. And the result is extremely good. I don’t have a parliamentary party behind me either, we are doing all this on our own. And that’s a good thing,” he stated.
But Wlazny is not just a political candidate — he’s, above all, an artist, a musician.
He based the Bier Partei in 2015 principally as satire. But, whilst proceeding to “have fun,” Dr Dominik Wlazny — he’s additionally a clinical physician — has come to the highlight in Vienna via arguing for the safety of different cultural venues and minorities and different susceptible teams.
In his presidential programme, the punk musician put ahead the speculation of a ministry that may determine “future-oriented ideas” and look ahead to problems prior to they occur.
But after all, Wlazny is a smart beer lover, because the identify of his band TurboBier signifies.
This is what he additionally named his personal brew, which he believes to be the most productive.
“Whether in beer or in politics, new ideas must be heard. And it is only through novelty and fresh influences that something good can be born,” Wlazny stated.
“And from this point of view, I see my candidacy as an incentive to for the country to think about.”
“If the issues I have addressed are now more widely discussed, then I will have succeeded in everything,” he said.
‘Austria isn’t an island’
Right-wing applicants, even far-right ones, have been very provide on this election gained via the incumbent president.
Van der Bellen used to be supported via a large vary of the rustic’s primary political teams, together with the social democrats of the SPÖ and ÖVP’s conservatives.
The candidate of the populist FPÖ, or Freedom Party, got here 2d within the election.
But the Austrian far-right birthday celebration has misplaced a few of its affect because the 2019 Ibiza-gate, which pressured the resignation of Heinz-Christian Strache, then vice-chancellor.
Wlazny, then again, stands for an Austria this is open to the arena, a ways from the nationalist calls for of FPÖ.
“Austria is not an island. We are not somewhere in the South Seas, where people could say ‘we don’t need others.'”
“I think that this international idea of Europe, (of us) working together with our neighbours, that’s how we can solve these crises. You can’t solve them with basic populist ideas,” Wlazny stated.
While Wlazny and his fellow Bier Partei participants are patently extremely joyful with greater than 300,000 votes solid in his favour, there may be the query of what comes subsequent. Will the Bier Partei take root in Austrian politics?
“The next election in Austria is in two years. So there is a lot of room for manoeuvre in terms of what could still happen.”
“The Bier Partei’s reception has been great. We are constantly gaining new members. The party will continue to do its work in Vienna, in the districts where we have seats, like I do in (Wlazny’s Vienna district of) Simmering. It is a pleasure, and I will continue to do so,” he confided.
“And in the meantime, I’ll see how it evolves. How many people want to participate, the right people, because this is my baby. I want to find like-minded people.”
“Now, when I see the number of young people coming down the street and saying ‘Hey, great, finally someone I can relate to,’ yeah, I’m very happy.”
