Wybory prezydenckie w Austrii w 2016r. - polityczne trzęsienie ziemi

This article aims to analyse the importance of the presidential elections in Austria held in the spring of 2016. The subject of the present considerations is the course of the election campaign of the two main candidates, the analysis of the election results, the observed movements in the electorate, the electoral motives and the political consequences (the complaint of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPӦ) to the Constitutional Court and the judgment of that instance requiring a re-run of the second round of elections). The article ends with a short summary presenting the main conclusions of the analysis undertaken, together with the assessment of the far-reaching consequences of the elections for the political system in Austria. The results of the first round of the presidential elections already show significant changes taking place on the Austrian political scene. The voters decided to interrupt the long-term, 70-year old, rivalry between the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats for the main office of the state, thus heralding the end of the existing political party duopoly. Moreover, the analysis of the course of the campaign and the election slogans of both candidates enables us to formulate a hypothesis that the subjects related to the European policy of Austria and the attitudes to the EU played a significant role during the elections.