200 000 youngsters voting, "...sweet little 16", Austria-Europe elections

by SOLARLIFE | September 28, 2008 at 03:59 pm

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Voting at the age of 16, Austria-Europe elections

The election was held a year earlier than planned after the collapse of the grand coalition of Social Democrats and conservatives in July. Austria lowered the voting age from 18 to 16 for the poll – enabling an extra 200,000 young people to take part.

Populist far-right parties made sweeping gains in Austria's closely fought general election Sept-28
Right-Wing Populist Politician Haider Wants to Ban Construction of Mosques and Minarets In Austria. They've presented a draft law designed to prohibit "unusual" buildings that don't fit in with traditional architecture. Haider's right-wing Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) party, insisted, however, that the law would not infringe on Austria's constitutional right to freedom of religion.

Exit polls put the anti-immigration Freedom Party, led by Heinz-Christian Strache, on course to win more than 18 per cent of the vote – an increase of 7 per cent. The Alliance for the Future of Austria, led by the far-right populist Jörg Haider, more than doubled its share of the vote to 11.5 per cent.

A spokesman for Mr Haider's party described the result as a "historic success" which would "change the political landscape in Austria".

The combined vote of both right-wing parties equalled that obtained by the Social Democrats who were on course to pick up just over 29 per cent of the vote. The conservatives were expected to win 25 per cent