02. 07. 10. - 12:00

BZÖ 'consolidated after tough time', party leader claims

Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) boss Josef Bucher has said he sees a great future ahead for his party.

Bucher said today (Fri) the party had left difficult times behind it and was now ready to focus on future challenges.

"We had a pretty tough time, but now we are consolidated," he told party faithfuls, stressing that he believed strongly in the new party manifesto.

The BZÖ sensationally overtook the Greens in the 2008 general election by winning 10.7 per cent of the overall vote.

The right-wing party however suffered losses in all but one of the following elections. Analysts said the death of its founder Jörg Haider in October 2010 was the main reason for the downward trend. They also claimed the BZÖ possibly faces dissolution if it suffers significant losses in the next general ballot.

It did not compete in the recent Burgenland election, but announced plans to run in Styria and Vienna this autumn.

The party managed to convince former ORF business journalist Walter Sonnleitner to become its front runner for the Vienna city elections, while far-right populist BZÖ Styria boss Gerald Grosz is optimistic about his chances in the provincial elections there.

The BZÖ garnered just 1.7 per cent in the 2005 provincial elections in Styria and 1.2 per cent in the Vienna vote the same year. Its Vienna branch suffered a throwback recently as several party officials left to found a new movement.

Croat-born swimmer Dinko Jukic is meanwhile rumoured to be runnig for the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) in Vienna’s Meidling district. His sister Mirna – Austria’s most successful female swimmer of all time – is an outspoken supporter of the Social Democrats (SPÖ).

Write your comment to this article here