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| Long Dominated by Center, Austria Splinters to Left and Right | Long Dominated by Center, Austria Splinters to Left and Right |
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| VIENNA — In Austria, at the very heart of Europe, the center is not holding. | VIENNA — In Austria, at the very heart of Europe, the center is not holding. |
| After decades in which Austrian politics was dominated by center-right and center-left parties, voters emphatically rejected both in the first round of the election for a new president. The country — focused, like many others in Europe, on the effects of large-scale immigration — now faces a runoff next Sunday between a far-right, anti-immigration populist, who was the leading vote-getter in the first round, and a former Green Party leader. | After decades in which Austrian politics was dominated by center-right and center-left parties, voters emphatically rejected both in the first round of the election for a new president. The country — focused, like many others in Europe, on the effects of large-scale immigration — now faces a runoff next Sunday between a far-right, anti-immigration populist, who was the leading vote-getter in the first round, and a former Green Party leader. |
| The power of the presidency in Austria is a subject of debate. But the first round of the race stirred upheaval within the governing coalition of the center-left Social Democrats and the center-right People’s Party, including the resignation of Chancellor Werner Faymann, which further undercut the influence and stature of the political middle here. | The power of the presidency in Austria is a subject of debate. But the first round of the race stirred upheaval within the governing coalition of the center-left Social Democrats and the center-right People’s Party, including the resignation of Chancellor Werner Faymann, which further undercut the influence and stature of the political middle here. |
| Should the far-right candidate, Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party, win the presidency, he would be the first right-wing populist to become a head of state in 21st-century Europe. | Should the far-right candidate, Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party, win the presidency, he would be the first right-wing populist to become a head of state in 21st-century Europe. |
| The forces that vaulted Mr. Hofer into the spotlight are evident across much of the Continent, where many traditional parties in the center are embattled and voters are signaling increased discontent with politics as usual. Austria could be a test case for how far voters will go to demand change as immigration joins with diminished economic security and resentment of entrenched elites to create a combustible political mix. | The forces that vaulted Mr. Hofer into the spotlight are evident across much of the Continent, where many traditional parties in the center are embattled and voters are signaling increased discontent with politics as usual. Austria could be a test case for how far voters will go to demand change as immigration joins with diminished economic security and resentment of entrenched elites to create a combustible political mix. |
| In France, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front is polling far ahead of the governing Socialists, and President François Hollande’s approval ratings have slumped as low as 13 percent a year before he faces another election. | In France, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front is polling far ahead of the governing Socialists, and President François Hollande’s approval ratings have slumped as low as 13 percent a year before he faces another election. |
| To Austria’s east, Prime Minister Viktor Orban rules Hungary with an authoritarian touch, and a conservative government in Poland is molding the news media and the judiciary to its taste. Germany is confronting growing support for the right-wing Alternative for Germany party, and the British referendum in June on whether to leave the European Union is cleaving Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives. That vote could turn on many of the same issues rattling politics elsewhere, including immigration, nationalism and disenchantment with the European bureaucracy in Brussels. | To Austria’s east, Prime Minister Viktor Orban rules Hungary with an authoritarian touch, and a conservative government in Poland is molding the news media and the judiciary to its taste. Germany is confronting growing support for the right-wing Alternative for Germany party, and the British referendum in June on whether to leave the European Union is cleaving Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives. That vote could turn on many of the same issues rattling politics elsewhere, including immigration, nationalism and disenchantment with the European bureaucracy in Brussels. |
| But the disruption has been especially pronounced in Austria, the crossroads of a troubled Continent. Despite having dominated politics since 1945, or perhaps because of that dominance, the two major centrist parties could not muster even a quarter of the popular vote between them in the first round of the presidential contest. | But the disruption has been especially pronounced in Austria, the crossroads of a troubled Continent. Despite having dominated politics since 1945, or perhaps because of that dominance, the two major centrist parties could not muster even a quarter of the popular vote between them in the first round of the presidential contest. |
| Mr. Hofer won 35 percent. Behind him was the former Green Party leader, Alexander Van der Bellen, with 21 percent. There has not been any polling for the runoff, but all indications are that the race will be tight. | Mr. Hofer won 35 percent. Behind him was the former Green Party leader, Alexander Van der Bellen, with 21 percent. There has not been any polling for the runoff, but all indications are that the race will be tight. |
| The tone of the political debate has added to the fears of many Austrians about the migrants who entered the country last year as hundreds of thousands of people fled Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other nations for the security and prosperity of Europe. The new arrivals, many of them Muslim, are regularly portrayed in tabloids, and by Mr. Hofer and his party, as freeloaders bringing crime, rape and even murder to this country of 8.4 million people. | The tone of the political debate has added to the fears of many Austrians about the migrants who entered the country last year as hundreds of thousands of people fled Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other nations for the security and prosperity of Europe. The new arrivals, many of them Muslim, are regularly portrayed in tabloids, and by Mr. Hofer and his party, as freeloaders bringing crime, rape and even murder to this country of 8.4 million people. |
| “We are in a situation where people don’t understand the world anymore, because it is changing so fast,” said Georg Hoffmann-Ostenhof, a columnist for the liberal weekly magazine Profil. “And then came the migrants, and people were told that the politicians had lost control of the borders. That just heightened the overall sense that control was gone.” | “We are in a situation where people don’t understand the world anymore, because it is changing so fast,” said Georg Hoffmann-Ostenhof, a columnist for the liberal weekly magazine Profil. “And then came the migrants, and people were told that the politicians had lost control of the borders. That just heightened the overall sense that control was gone.” |
| Hans Rauscher, a centrist columnist for the daily newspaper Der Standard, noted that even though most refugees who arrived last year went on to Germany and Scandinavia, “what people saw in images was people just coming, coming, coming — and the influx didn’t stop.” | Hans Rauscher, a centrist columnist for the daily newspaper Der Standard, noted that even though most refugees who arrived last year went on to Germany and Scandinavia, “what people saw in images was people just coming, coming, coming — and the influx didn’t stop.” |
| Mr. Faymann initially backed Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on her policy of keeping borders open to refugees. He reversed himself over the winter, siding with his coalition partner, the center-right People’s Party, in shutting Austria’s borders and persuading states along the Balkan refugee trail from Greece to do the same. | Mr. Faymann initially backed Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on her policy of keeping borders open to refugees. He reversed himself over the winter, siding with his coalition partner, the center-right People’s Party, in shutting Austria’s borders and persuading states along the Balkan refugee trail from Greece to do the same. |
| The shift was intended in part to head off the political threat from the Freedom Party. Instead, it fed a revolt within Mr. Faymann’s Social Democrats, and he resigned suddenly last Monday, weakening the Social Democrats before the most contentious presidential race since 1986. Back then, Austria elected Kurt Waldheim, a former United Nations secretary general, despite revelations that he had served in the Wehrmacht close to the sites of Nazi crimes in the Balkans. | The shift was intended in part to head off the political threat from the Freedom Party. Instead, it fed a revolt within Mr. Faymann’s Social Democrats, and he resigned suddenly last Monday, weakening the Social Democrats before the most contentious presidential race since 1986. Back then, Austria elected Kurt Waldheim, a former United Nations secretary general, despite revelations that he had served in the Wehrmacht close to the sites of Nazi crimes in the Balkans. |
| So far, neither party in the centrist governing coalition has formally urged followers to back Mr. van der Bellen, an economist, against Mr. Hofer. | So far, neither party in the centrist governing coalition has formally urged followers to back Mr. van der Bellen, an economist, against Mr. Hofer. |
| Just how much influence a far-right president might exert in Austria is hotly debated. The office has been seen as largely ceremonial. But powers laid out in the 1929 Constitution, still in effect, enable the president to dismiss a government or refuse to swear in a controversial leader. | Just how much influence a far-right president might exert in Austria is hotly debated. The office has been seen as largely ceremonial. But powers laid out in the 1929 Constitution, still in effect, enable the president to dismiss a government or refuse to swear in a controversial leader. |
| Mr. Hofer and the Freedom Party have campaigned on what their posters call “a new understanding of the office.” Mr. Hofer has said he would give the government six months to a year to fix what he sees as Austria’s woes — migrants, crime, rising unemployment — and then dismiss it if necessary. | Mr. Hofer and the Freedom Party have campaigned on what their posters call “a new understanding of the office.” Mr. Hofer has said he would give the government six months to a year to fix what he sees as Austria’s woes — migrants, crime, rising unemployment — and then dismiss it if necessary. |
| “We all missed this point in the Constitution,” because since 1945 it had not been used, said Mr. Rauscher, the columnist for Der Standard. He voiced a widespread apprehension that any attempt by Mr. Hofer to sway the government could drive Austria in the illiberal direction seen in neighboring Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — all once linked with Austria in the Hapsburg Empire. | “We all missed this point in the Constitution,” because since 1945 it had not been used, said Mr. Rauscher, the columnist for Der Standard. He voiced a widespread apprehension that any attempt by Mr. Hofer to sway the government could drive Austria in the illiberal direction seen in neighboring Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — all once linked with Austria in the Hapsburg Empire. |
| Mr. Hofer is appealing to voters with a brand of 19th-century Teutonic nationalism, saying Germans and Austrians should draw on it to fight the Islamic State. He also rails against the division of Tyrol, one of Austria’s states, from the northern Italian region known as South Tyrol. He told a Tyrolean rally last year that the border “was unjust, is unjust and will remain so” as long as it stands. | Mr. Hofer is appealing to voters with a brand of 19th-century Teutonic nationalism, saying Germans and Austrians should draw on it to fight the Islamic State. He also rails against the division of Tyrol, one of Austria’s states, from the northern Italian region known as South Tyrol. He told a Tyrolean rally last year that the border “was unjust, is unjust and will remain so” as long as it stands. |
| Mr. Hofer, 45 and little noticed until now, leaves the most strident public statements to his party leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, cultivating an everyman image and emphasizing at rallies that he and his second wife, a professional caregiver, “are one of you.” | Mr. Hofer, 45 and little noticed until now, leaves the most strident public statements to his party leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, cultivating an everyman image and emphasizing at rallies that he and his second wife, a professional caregiver, “are one of you.” |
| “Mr. Van der Bellen wants to be president of Austria, while I want to be president for Austria,” Mr. Hofer proclaimed during a 90-minute TV duel on May 8. | “Mr. Van der Bellen wants to be president of Austria, while I want to be president for Austria,” Mr. Hofer proclaimed during a 90-minute TV duel on May 8. |
| Mr. Van der Bellen, 72, was markedly tougher in that debate than in earlier ones; Mr. Hofer accused him of being frisky after drinking too much Viennese coffee. But Mr. Van der Bellen’s supporters say he needs to show even more desire to win. | Mr. Van der Bellen, 72, was markedly tougher in that debate than in earlier ones; Mr. Hofer accused him of being frisky after drinking too much Viennese coffee. But Mr. Van der Bellen’s supporters say he needs to show even more desire to win. |
| Mr. Van der Bellen has said he would never swear in a government led by Mr. Strache, even though polls consistently show the Freedom Party finishing first, with about one-third of the votes, if parliamentary elections were held now. | Mr. Van der Bellen has said he would never swear in a government led by Mr. Strache, even though polls consistently show the Freedom Party finishing first, with about one-third of the votes, if parliamentary elections were held now. |
| The possibility that Mr. Hofer and the Freedom Party might expand their already substantial sway in Austria lent an air of urgency last week to a meeting of hundreds of leading business and political figures at a chic dinner club by Vienna’s famed opera house. | The possibility that Mr. Hofer and the Freedom Party might expand their already substantial sway in Austria lent an air of urgency last week to a meeting of hundreds of leading business and political figures at a chic dinner club by Vienna’s famed opera house. |
| These people were rallying around Mr. Van der Bellen, who is running as an independent but is partly financed by the Green Party, even if it meant crossing ideological divides. | These people were rallying around Mr. Van der Bellen, who is running as an independent but is partly financed by the Green Party, even if it meant crossing ideological divides. |
| A leading conservative, Josef Pröll, a former finance minister and the scion of a powerful family, was among those declaring he would back Mr. Van der Bellen. | A leading conservative, Josef Pröll, a former finance minister and the scion of a powerful family, was among those declaring he would back Mr. Van der Bellen. |
| Mr. Van der Bellen has repeatedly emphasized that one in two jobs in Austria depends on trade, tourism or other contacts outside the country, and that Austria cannot afford to turn its back on Europe or the world. | Mr. Van der Bellen has repeatedly emphasized that one in two jobs in Austria depends on trade, tourism or other contacts outside the country, and that Austria cannot afford to turn its back on Europe or the world. |
| With unemployment hovering around 10 percent — up from 7.6 percent in 2013, when the last parliamentary elections were held — business executives especially fear isolationism. | |
| Others note a deeper crisis, particularly for Europe’s center-left and the welfare state that it built after 1945, which redistributed wealth in a way that fostered security. | Others note a deeper crisis, particularly for Europe’s center-left and the welfare state that it built after 1945, which redistributed wealth in a way that fostered security. |
| “Social democracy was always driven by ideas,” said Wolfgang Petritsch, a veteran diplomat and onetime chief aide to Austria’s best-known chancellor, the Social Democrat Bruno Kreisky. “But the ideas have gone missing.” | “Social democracy was always driven by ideas,” said Wolfgang Petritsch, a veteran diplomat and onetime chief aide to Austria’s best-known chancellor, the Social Democrat Bruno Kreisky. “But the ideas have gone missing.” |