Evidently many Austrians feel differently: 8000 people have officially supported Gehring's candidacy and have in doing so made the elections - that were forecast to be boring - a whole lot more interesting. Because contrary to the earlier prognoses Gehring could now make the elections more close again. Not only because he has a chance of ending in second place in the first round, but it may even happen that a second round is needed. And not without reason, the FPÖ and its candidate have until now only produced negative press coverage, whereas Gehring has gone largely unnoted until now, but has the reputation of a politician that thinks things through and offers a clear message.

Thus Austria has made it possible that confessing Christians can choose a representative of theirs, that has clear values and political goals for a platform. What the Greens call old fashioned and medieval, can in the eyes of responsible citizens only be a very wise policy: protection of life, reinforcement of marriage as a union between a man and a woman and an economic system that centers on justice. Not that the other candidates pay such topics no attention, but Gehring makes clear that in our society it is about more than the ever returning political controversies over laws and positions of power.

In our current time, pressing questions concerning our living together, the moral values, but also the general responsibility towards each other, get pushed to the background. Politics should also dare to make clear that even things that have become mainstream and which people are use to, can contradict a foundation of our Christian roots and may need to be discussed in a dignified way.

Dr. Gehring has therefore not only for the Austrian presidential elections created a chance for the voters to decide on the future of defining societal and political processes. He has demonstrated with his efforts to gather enough support, that Christian motivated and confessing politics is in no way merely a remnant of ages past. Many people want, like Gehring, to give a new focus to Austrian politics.

This goal would do other countries well too. In Germany where Christian parties are still divided among themselves and thus have a hard time getting through to the public debate, the challenge with regard to the large existing parties is equally big. Of course it is hard to just compare Germany and Austria, since Austria is more rural and Germany is more urban. If a Christian party in Germany is to make headways, the focus should not only be on a struggle with the CDU that is losing its Christian character. Gehring has shown something that also applies elsewhere: Adressing people's everyday needs convinces far more people than attempts to create a certain image with marketing and at the same time telling people exactly what they want to hear.

Published earlier at schreibfreiheit.eu by Dennis Riehle, Konstanz, Germany