Peculiarities of 2022 Regular Presidential Elections in Austria

Abstract

The article deals with the peculiarities of the regular presidential elections in the Republic of Austria, which took place on October 9, 2022, and ended with the convincing victory of the current president, former leader of a green political party, Alexander Van der Bellen, who won more than 50% of the necessary votes in the first round. The main reasons for the success of the current president in these presidential elections are in detail described. Also, the main results, conclusions of prominent domestic and foreign political scientists, experts who were engaged in researching the presidential elections in Austria were in completely analyzed. The specific features of the 2022 presidential elections, which took place on the background of global world challenges, in particular the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the multipolar attitudes of the presidential candidates, as well as the various attitudes of the Austrian population, were revealed. It is the victory of A. Van der Bellen that is important for our country, as he sharply condemns the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, seeing in the victory of the Ukrainians also the victory of European values, peace and freedom. The re-election for a second term of the oldest president in the history of Austria, A. Van der Bellen, means that the Austrian people supported stability in the country, and it also corresponds to the interests of Ukraine, because the pro-European elected president has repeatedly expressed his support for the Ukrainian people in the war with the Russian Federation, and also advocates further sanctions against the Putin regime, calls for decisive action, solidarity and unity of the EU, although earlier until February 24, 2022, he considered Putin’s Russia a reliable partner for economic, cultural, political cooperation. For Ukraine, which aspires to join the European community, the support of European and world leaders is very important.