Austria’s ‘Beer Party’ started as a joke. Now it could determine an election.

A beer-themed political party may hold the keys to a government without the right in Austria. The party is led by a man who calls himself Marco Pogo, a doctor who fronts the party’s in-house punk rock band: TURBOBIER. All caps.

What began as a satirical movement with negligible support in polls has risen to become a prominent political force in Austria, with potential to shape the next government after next month’s elections. The Beer Party, created in 2015, has competed three times in its history. In the 2019 general election, the party took just 0.1% of the vote. The following year, in Vienna’s state election, Beer scored around 2%, campaigning on free beer in the form of “public beer fountains” and monthly allotments to households.

In 2022, Marco Pogo, running under his real name Dominik Wlazny, competed in Austria’s presidential election, and garnered 8% of the vote. For the Beer Party, this was a national show of strength, and sent the party hurtling forward in general election polls, reaching double digits in some surveys.

Despite the party’s goofy origins, Wlazny attempted to run a serious campaign for the presidential election, orienting himself as a progressive on issues like healthcare and education. Wlazny has continued to pursue a more conventional approach since then, even going as far to change the meaning of the party’s name: “BIER” is now an acronym, that in German stands for “I am in a reform movement.” With 5% of the vote, the party could provide the only path to forming a government without conservatives or the far-right, according to the latest Politico polling average.

But the beer-themed branding continues, and TURBOBIER will tour this December, about a month before elections are scheduled to be held. Beer and punk rock are what brought them to relevance in Austrian politics, so expect them to stick to their roots – even as they offer a more sober take on policy.