Vienna: Nick-named “Wunderwuzzi” (roughly translated, it means someone who can walk on water), the rise of 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz, described by one political analyst as Austria’s version of Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau, has been as remarkable as it has been improbable.
The man widely expected to become Austria’s next Chancellor on Sunday, “Emperor Kurz’s” takeover of the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) in May proved radical.
In few short months since, he has transformed a party which has been in coalition government for the past 30 years into his own personal movement.
He’s re-branded, renaming it the “The New People’s Party” (OeVP) and dumping its traditional black color scheme in favor of a bright turquoise hue aimed at giving it an “anti-establishment” look.
He has also pushed his party to the right of its already center-right stance, and taken up a firm position on the big issue dominating this election: Immigration.
The strategy of “putting Austrians first” propelled the sluggish OeVP to pole position in opinion polls, leaving the scandal-plagued Social
Democrats (SPOe) of Chancellor Christian Kern fighting for second place with the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe).
On the campaign trail, Kurz gets a rock star welcome. Fans sporting turquoise T-shirts chant his name, women ask if they can hug him.
Selfie sessions with Kurz, always in slim-cut suits and tieless white shirts, last over two hours.
Observers say there hasn’t been this much euphoria over a politician since Joerg Haider, the magnetic but controversial FPOe leader who died in a drink-driving car crash in 2008.
Kurz’s appeal as an agent of change is remarkable given that he has been a key cog in the political machine he now seeks to overhaul.
The only child of a secretary and a teacher, Kurz joined the OeVP’s youth wing in 2003.
As its chief, he drew ridicule with a 2010 council election campaign featuring the slogan “Schwarz macht geil”, or “Black makes you hot”.
Kurz posed with skimpily clad girls on top of a black Hummer, the so-called “hot-o-mobile”, and distributed black condoms.
This blunder notwithstanding, the former law student enjoyed a meteoric rise, becoming secretary of integration in 2011 and foreign minister two years later, aged just 27.
Kurz claims credit for closing the Balkan migrant trail in 2016 to halt a record influx of migrants to Austria and other wealthy EU member states.
The move saw him named one of the most influential Europeans by news website Politico.
Full of praise for Hungary’s populist premier Viktor Orban, Kurz wants to slash benefits for all immigrants and shut Islamic kindergartens.
The notoriously private politician — he’s seldom seen in public with long-term girlfriend Susanne — left “nothing to chance” and ran a campaign as immaculate as his trademark gelled-back hair, observed Der Standard newspaper.
The skilled orator is also a sharp opponent in televised debates. But critics have accused him of being a “mini-dictator” running a “one-man show”.
Some analysts warn that Kurz’s election could be an “earthquake” for the EU, despite his pro-European pledge.
Kurz’s ideas on everything from immigration to economic policy represent a “complete rupture” with the EU, Austria expert Patrick Moreau says.
