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Most Austrians Shun Right-Wing Candidate

Rosencranz defeated soundly

by
Marc Tracy
April 26, 2010
Poster photographed in Vienna on Wednesday.(Marc Tracy)
Poster photographed in Vienna on Wednesday.(Marc Tracy)

Returning from vacation, I was greeted with the news that Barbara Rosenkranz, the presidential candidate for Austria’s right-wing, anti-immigrant Freedom Party—which many say is unduly sympathetic to neo-Nazis—won more than 15 percent of the vote yesterday. Meanwhile, Social Democrat incumbent Heinz Fischer secured an overwhelming majority.

In other words, while it would be ideal if Rosenkranz had gotten a vote total roughly 15 percentage points lower, this outcome was good news: It showed that most Austrians agree with whoever touched up this Rosenkranz poster that I saw in Vienna a few days ago.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.