Meet the 31-year-old Austrian politician who’s likely to become the youngest world leader
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Austria’s right-leaning parties won big in the country’s legislative elections on Sunday.
The conservative People’s Party (OVP) came first with 31.4% of the vote. It was followed by the nationalist Freedom Party (FPO) with 27.4% and the centre-right Social Democratic Party (SPO) with 26.7%, according to preliminary results from the country’s interior ministry.
The OVP, which came second in the last elections in 2013, is about 30 seats away from a parliamentary majority, according to current estimates. It’s widely believed that it will form a coalition with the FPO, which would pave the way to a right-wing, heavily anti-immigrant Austrian parliament.
If the results are confirmed, then 31-year-old OVP leader Sebastian Kurz will become the Austrian Chancellor and the world’s youngest national leader. Scroll down to learn more about him.
This is 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz, the leader of Austria’s conservative People’s Party, also known as the OVP.
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He’s also currently the country’s foreign minister, having been appointed at 27. Here he is with then-US Secretary of State John Kerry in October 2015.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz shake hands before a meeting in Vienna, Austria, October 29, 2015. Picture taken October 29, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/Pool
He took over the OVP leadership this May, aged just 30 at the time.
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He was appointed acting party leader in May after former chairman and Austrian Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner stepped down, and formally elected leader with 98.7% of the votes at a party convention in July, Politico reported. The same convention also voted to give more power to the party leader.
After becoming leader, Kurz changed the OVP’s official colour from black to greenish-blue.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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