Marco Pogo: Meet the punk rocker using beer in his bid to become Austria's next president

A punk rocker who's utilizing beer in his bid to grow to be Austria's subsequent president says he is going through a "David versus Goliath" battle. 

Dominik Wlazny -- higher recognized by his stage identify Marco Pogo -- is working to be elected because the alpine nation's head of state.

He is already gained fame for maintaining a promise to put in a beer fountain in Vienna after his Beer Occasion -- which he based in 2014 -- received 11 seats there in native elections in 2020. 

At 35, Wlazny is the nation's youngest ever presidential candidate. He is finest often called a singer within the punk band Turbobier -- that means "Turbo Beer". 

Wlazny admits he faces an uphill battle as opinion polls put him as getting 5% of the vote share, in comparison with round 60% for incumbent Alexander Van der Bellen, 78, in response to AFP information company. 

However the budding politician says he has loads of concepts to "assist Austrian individuals" take care of inflation, the return of conflict in Europe and the COVID-19 pandemic forward of the election on 9 October.

Wlazny instructed Beeer Magazine in 2020 that he used the alcoholic beverage to ship his political concepts. 

"Beer is a superb factor, a fantastic stimulant, a social enhancer, the bottom widespread denominator," he mentioned. 

Wlazny says he can be a "ethical determine distanced from partisan politics" if elected president, which is essentially a ceremonial function in Austria. 

"Why do we now have 1,245 ski lifts within the mountains of Tyrol however no wind generators?" Wlazny says, including that defending the setting is a precedence for him. 

Nonetheless, with out the help of a significant occasion, Wlazny is principally restricted to campaigning on the web, the place he has over 55,000 followers on Twitter.

He has a handful of fashionable election marketing campaign posters round Austria however says some have been stolen by individuals maintaining them as souvenirs. 

Wlazny shared footage of his new electoral marketing campaign posters along with his followers on Twitter

Having studied medication earlier than going full-time as a musician, Wlazny has a singular promoting level in comparison with Austria's six different presidential candidates. 

"I'm very comfortable that there's somebody who stands up for good values... He's younger, he's of this period," Brigitta Koppelhuber, 78, a retiree from Vienna, instructed AFP.

Present president Van der Bellen, of Austria's Inexperienced Occasion, is broadly thought of to be a favorite within the upcoming elections. 

He's at the moment polling above the 50 per cent of the vote required to win the presidential election outright in October. If not, he'll face a run-off in November with the closest candidate.

Austria's final election in 2016 noticed an in depth battle between Van der Bellen and far-right politician Norbert Hofer, who misplaced by round 350,000 votes.