British politician Nigel Farage said on Friday the year of the “political revolution” is not over. The former leader of the UK Independence Party predicted Austria will follow the example of England and America to become the next western country whose citizens stand up to the government.
“On Sunday this week, the Austrians are re-running their presidential election,” Farage told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Friday evening. “The president of Austria being the head of state — not with much executive power, but still very important — and I would put my money on the Freedom Party’s Mr. [Norbert] Hofer winning that election.”
If Hofer is elected, it will be the first time a member of a far-right party has elected a head of state job in a Western European country. Farage, charged with leading the British exodus from the European Union last June, said Hofer “will be calling for Austria to have a referendum on their membership with the European Union,” following the example of Britain.
“I see 2016 as the year of a political revolution. Two revolutions, one in the UK, one in the USA,” Farage explained. “It’s about nation-state democracy, taking back control of our lives and our future direction.”
In Italy this Sunday, the people will also be voting on a referendum that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi proposed. But Farage said Renzi’s attempt to “centralize power” will backfire and leave Italy with an “emergency government,” forcing the European Union to bail out the country’s four largest banks. The problem with bailing out Italy, unlike Greece, according to Farage, is that the latter of the two was small, unlike Italy.
