Klestil, Thomas

(1932–2004)

   When Kurt Waldheim decided not to seek a second term as president of the Austrian Republic in 1992, the Austrian People’s Party called upon Thomas Klestil, the secretary-general of the Foreign Office, to run for the office. A graduate of the University for Economic Studies in Vienna and a diplomat with 18 years of service in the United States, he also had a great deal of experience with the United Nations, where he was Austria’s ambassador from 1978 to 1986.

   However, Klestil was virtually unknown in Austrian domestic politics. His campaign downplayed his connection with any of Austria’s parliamentary parties. Instead, he construed the Austrian president as the ambassador-at-large for the country as a whole. The idea struck a resonant note with the public, which was given unprecedented media exposure to all four candidates for the office. In a run-off ballot between him and the Socialist Party of Austria (SPÖ) candidate, Rudolph Streicher (1939–), Klestil received the largest percentage of votes ever given to someone running for the Austrian presidency, almost 57 percent. He even won a majority in Vienna, long acknowledged as an SPÖ stronghold.

   Klestil’s first term in office was dogged by marital scandal and serious illness. He did, however, pursue an active policy of representing Austria abroad, where he supported, among other policies, the rapid integration of the former Soviet bloc states into Europe as a whole. In 1998, Klestil was reelected for a second term that he did not live to complete.

   See also Constitution; Government.