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Vienna Politics in the Dutch newspaper!, google translated

Beer party in Vienna shoots up in polls: fountain in the city has to spray beer

The municipal elections in Vienna are still two years to come, but the Beer Party is already providing a small political landslide in the Austrian capital. The playful movement, which a joke arose from a punk band, scores even better in the polls than the conservative party of Chancellor Nehammer.


Guy Hoeks (Kamks) 12-10-23, 21:16

Marco Pogo is a hit on TikTok. The Austrian comedian praises the craziest flavours, dressed as several Viennese ice cream sellers – from chocolate parmesan to Marlboro-Doppelkorn. As a snorted real estate agent with sunglasses at a bar, he paints the rich Viennese district of D?bling as a problem area. And he’s putting mainstream politicians who constantly shout ‘Red’ ma drup!’ (talk over it) to puff by mentioning his own campaign.

Pogo – real name Dominik Wlazny – is especially popular with teenagers and twenty-somethings. But now he also seems to be able to achieve electoral success with a wider audience. Where the Beer Party was long seen as a political gimmick and intended as such a thing, the Pogo movement suddenly shoots up in the polls. The playful party would now get 12 percent of the votes according to a poll by the tabloid Heute. Before the conservative VP of Chancellor Karl Nehammer and the Greens, of which the current Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen was a member for years.

City fountain must spray beer


The Beer Party, which is only active in the capital city of Vienna, wants to increase the tax on radler and other mixing beers by 50 percent. There is also real beer to squirt from the famous Hochstrahlbrunnen city fountain. Moreover, the party advocates 50 liters of free beer per adult and 20 liters for young adults. “If we don’t make a big slip, the beer party is clearly moving to the Vienna City Council,” Pogo said. The party is already represented in eleven different districts.


The beer party is actually a satirical result from Turbobier, a popular punk band of which Pogo has been a singer since its foundation in 2014. From the beginning, the 36-year-old Austrian has been making fun of political themes such as unemployment and beer consumption. But since 2019, the singer has been his job as a part-time politician to take more and more seriously.

According to Pogo, it is important that the beer party, just as in 2020, when the movement scored poorly, participates in the Viennese municipal elections. “I think politics is too sober,” he said in a TV interview in which he poked positions as party leader of the beer part. “The meaninglessness is leading in Austrian politics. If you have an idea, like my radler proposal, you can win votes at lightning speed.” In that interview, Pogo, who studied medicine, was addressed with ‘Herr Doktor’.

Last year, the Viennese comedian and musician already made a shot at the presidency of Austria. Just like in Germany, this is a ceremonial function. With six other candidates, Pogo then lost without a chance of political veteran Van der Bellen, an opponent more than forty years older.

Momentum

In hometown Vienna, Pogo seems to have the momentum. While the ruling party in the other Austrian states is the dominant political factor, the SP has been leading the dance in the capital for years. But the Social Democrats can make a fall from 41 percent to 35 percent if elections are now taking place, a historically poor prognosis.

Incidentally, the proportions in Austria are distorted: with about two million inhabitants, almost a quarter of all Austrians live in the capital. Nevertheless, many citizens have been politically fed by a chain of scandals. For example, Sebastian Kurz, the youngest chancellor in the country, had to resign two years ago after a vote of no confidence. It was initiated by the so-called Ibiza gate, in which former Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache of coalition party FP was guilty of corruption.