The Success of Sebastian Kurz in 2017 Austrian Parliamentary Elections

Abstract

The article deals with the peculiarities of the extraordinary elections in the Republic of Austria in 2017, as well as the main reasons for the success of the renewed Austrian People's Party (ANP) and its leader, Sebastian Kurz, the former youngest foreign minister and chairman of the OSCE. The main results of the elections to the lower house of parliament, the National Council are in details analyzed, whrere the political parties have overcome the 4 percent barrier. The main conclusions of well-known domestic and foreign political scientists and experts are in details characterized, who evaluated the reasons for supporting of right and far- right political parties in the European countries, in particular in Austria, which have received considerable support in the elections, which was caused by public dissatisfaction with the ineffective policy of the European Union, which after the international financial crisis, terrorist threats, problems with migrants, refugees, and in recent years a rather aggressive foreign policy of Russia, is forced to face new challenges, giving an adequate response, which plays an important role for Ukraine, because our country sees its future in close multi-vector cooperation with the EU. It is important for Ukraine support of the European Union and European countries, in particular with Austria, because our country is interested in further fruitful development of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Austria and cooperation in various sectors of the economy, as well as support for European and Euro-Atlantic course. Ukraine is able to give an adequate response only in close cooperation with European countries. Ukraine is affected by domestic political changes both within the European Union and domestic political changes within European countries, namely which political parties win and which political coalitions are formed, as well as the influence of pro-Russian political forces in the party landscape.