How many signatures are needed in Germany to be on the ballot federally and in the states ?

Hans-Peter Haselsteiner, a wealthy CEO of a construction company and former MP for the LIF in the Austrian Parliament and philantropist, has agreed to double the donations that the liberal NEOS party receives in June and July. NEOS has received donations worth of 50.088 € in May.





http://diepresse.com/home/politik/innenpolitik/1417816/Haselsteiner-verdoppelt-Spenden-an-Neos-

I think this won't be enough, because if you want to compete Austria-wide for the entry into parliament (4% needed), you will need much more than 1 Mio. €, because the organizing costs, TV ads, poster campaigns and campaign staff already sucks up lots of cash.

Haselsteiner probably won't go the Stronach way and donate tens of millions, but I think he could at least do slightly more to give them a real chance.

Even if NEOS collects 100.000 in June and July each, it will only be doubled to 400.000€

He should donate ca. 1-3 Mio. € in my opinion.

With the deadline now over, the following 58 parties have submitted their intention to run in the federal election:

1. FWD     Freie Wähler Deutschland
2. MDU     Muslimisch Demokratische Union
3. (keine Kurzbezeichnung)     Bündnis 2013 – Die Reformer
4. Die PlanetBlauen     WasserPartei Deutschland-WPD
5. DR     Deutsches Reich
6. DIE VIOLETTEN     Die Violetten
7. BP     Bayernpartei
8. Deutsche Konservative     DEUTSCHE KONSERVATIVE PARTEI
9. CM     CHRISTLICHE MITTE – Für ein Deutschland nach GOTTES Geboten
10. Volksabstimmung     Ab jetzt…Demokratie durch Volksabstimmung
11. Tierschutzpartei     PARTEI MENSCH UMWELT TIERSCHUTZ
12. (keine Kurzbezeichnung)     Eurowählergemeinschaft
13. FAMILIE     Familien-Partei Deutschlands
14. FREIE WÄHLER     FREIE WÄHLER
15. RENTNER     RENTNER Partei Deutschland
16. REP     DIE REPUBLIKANER
17. Bündnis 21/RRP     Bündnis 21/RRP
18. pro Deutschland     Bürgerbewegung pro Deutschland
19. KPD     Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands
20. (keine Kurzbezeichnung)     Erste Partei des Volkes
21. FRÜHLING     Frühling-in-Deutschland e. V.
22. PdB     Partei der Bedrängten
23. (keine Kurzbezeichnung)     DIE RECHTE
24. NEIN!     NEIN!-Idee
25. DGP     Die GERADE Partei
26. Die PARTEI     Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative
27. ÖDP     Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei
28. DUW     Demokratische Unabhängige Wählervereinigung
29. BGD     Bund für Gesamtdeutschland
30. BüSo     Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität
31. DND     Die Neue Demokratie
32. Aufbruch C     Aufbruch C
33. DNV     Deutsche Nationalversammlung
34. SU     SustainableUnion
35. PBC     Partei Bibeltreuer Christen
36. AfD     Alternative für Deutschland
37. U.d.M.     Union der Menschlichkeit
38. BIG     Bündnis für Innovation & Gerechtigkeit
39. GMD     Partei Gesunder Menschenverstand Deutschland
40. IDPD     Immigranten-Deutsche-Partei Deutschlands
41. DKP     Deutsche Kommunistische Partei
42. MLPD     Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands
43. PSG     Partei für Soziale Gleichheit, Sektion der Vierten Internationale
44. PIRATEN     Piratenpartei Deutschland
45. (keine Kurzbezeichnung)     Jahw Partei
46. B     Bergpartei, die "ÜberPartei"
47. (keine Kurzbezeichnung)     DIE ALTERNATIVEN
48. (keine Kurzbezeichnung)     Partei der Nichtwähler
49. PARTEI DER VERNUNFT     Partei der Vernunft
50. IDU     Islamische Demokratische Union
51. DA     DIE AKTIVEN
52. APPD     Anarchistische Pogo-Partei Deutschlands
53. DIE FRAUEN     Feministische Partei DIE FRAUEN
54. GRAUE PANTHER     GRAUE PANTHER Deutschland
55. (keine Kurzbezeichnung)     DIE.NÄCHSTEN
56. Alternative Partei     Alternative Partei
57. NM     NEUE MITTE
58. DGP     Deutsche Gerechtigkeits Partei 

http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/bundestagswahlen/BTW_BUND_13/presse/w13004_Zahl_der_Beteiligungsanzeigen.html

[Sorted by "birth rate"]

Made an Excel chart with the new numbers (click on the right on your mouse to enlarge the pic):

Sorted by "birth rate"

In English, pretty well explained with many charts and statistics:

http://www.statistik.at/web_en/static/austria._data._figures._facts_029252.pdf

For those who are interested.

The 1st half of the government term (2.5 of 5 years) in Vienna is over and "Heute" has a new Karmasin poll, which shows how Vienna voters would vote if the 2015 state election would be held today:



In the first half of the term, the government (SPÖ-Greens) has passed a series of measures in the city that were core Green-issues, such as new bikelanes, parking room-related measures, etc.)

This benefits the Greens, while the SPÖ loses slightly.

The FPÖ remains surprisingly strong in Vienna, probably because the city has seen a lot of immigration in the past years and because many workers are now voting FPÖ and not SPÖ anymore (this is especially the case in the worker districts in the South Simmering and Favoriten, where Strache is from and in the Northern districts Donaustadt and Floridsdorf where young upper middle class families move and which have a lower share of foreigners).

The ÖVP is historically weak in Vienna and can't really move up it seems.

Team Stronach is not a factor in Vienna either.

http://www.heute.at/news/oesterreich/wien/art23652,891457

Efgani Dönmez, who was born in Turkey but came to Austria as a small child, and who is now an MP for the Greens to the Bundesrat (upper chamber of the Austrian parliament) wants the Erdogan-supporters in Austria deported back to Turkey !

Yesterday, 5000 Pro-Erdogan Turks demonstrated in Vienna.

Because of this, Dönmez said that they should "be given a one-way ticket to Turkey, so that they can stay there".

He got immediately criticized by his Green party colleagues and SPÖ politicians.

On the other hand, the FPÖ paid respect to his comments thanking him for his "flawless democratic tenor".



http://www.salzburg.com/nachrichten/oesterreich/politik/sn/artikel/gruener-bundesrat-will-erdogan-anhaenger-abschieben-63186

Finally a sensible Green politician!

He's even getting murder threats now, because of what he said. He asked for police protection already.

The national Greens decidedly refuse to enter a coalition with Team Stronach, unlike the Greens in Salzburg. They cite that Stronach is too autocratic, has problems with core/vital institutions like unions and his "crazy" Euro-ideas as main reasons.

That's what they say now, but when the opportunity arises to acquire high-paid government posts, maybe this opposition might dwindle quickly.

I think the federal Greens might stick to their position, even after the elections.

They are more activist (similar to the Vienna Greens) than the Salzburg-Greens, who are more like the Baden-Württemberg Greens, therefore more to the center and pragmatic.

DEM primary:

54% Booker
11% Holt
  8% Pallone
  5% Oliver

General:

50% Booker (D)
33% Lonegan (R)

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2013/new_jersey/election_2013_new_jersey_senate

As I suspected then.
In other words Austria continues to have the most boring national politics of any other country.

Boring national politics is usually a sign of well-managed and functioning countries.

See Switzerland (which is even more boring), your Sweden, Norway, Finland etc.

I'm pretty sure "deported" is quite a stronger term that what he was really saying or had in mind, but...

He didn't really say "deport them", but his remark with "giving them a one-way ticket to Turkey" was part of an interview in which he also said that "Edogan is driving Turkey against a wall".

So, he might really hate Erdogan and his backers and really want them out of here and back in Turkey. Forever.

So Tender, seeing that Austria seems to love their Grand Coalitions is there even a hypothetical chance that ÖVP would not continue to rule with SPÖ after the election?

It's extremely likely as of right now that the SPÖVP government continues, or if the ÖVP comes out first in the election, ÖVPSPÖ.

Because of the following reasons:

There are only 5 parties who will get more than 4% (SPÖ, ÖVP, FPÖ, Greens, TS).

NEOS (the joint liberal platform made up of former ÖVP-, Green-members and current LIF and Young Liberal-members) is too weak and if the LIF didn't manage to get more than 4% in 2008, they probably won't either this year.

Pirates, KPÖ, etc. are all too small, disorganized and underfunded to run a national campaign.

The national Greens decidedly refuse to enter a coalition with Team Stronach, unlike the Greens in Salzburg. They cite that Stronach is too autocratic, has problems with core/vital institutions like unions and his "crazy" Euro-ideas as main reasons.

SPÖ-Greens alone is not possible (just 40-45%).

And SPÖ-Greens-FPÖ is ... LOL.

ÖVP-FPÖ is not possible either as of right now (ca. 40-45% too), but maybe on election day if the ÖVP gets close to 30% and the FPÖ close to 20%.

This is probably the only option where I can see the ÖVP leaving the Grand Coalition. But even this scenario is extremely unlikely, because Spindelegger doesn't like FPÖ-leader Strache and his people and rather works with the SPÖ.

Another sign of a continued GC is the fact that SPÖ and ÖVP do not attack each other right now in some form of pre-capaigning, like they should.

In fact, when the floods hit in the past weeks, they acted more like one party instead of two.

Efgani Dönmez, who was born in Turkey but came to Austria as a small child, and who is now an MP for the Greens to the Bundesrat (upper chamber of the Austrian parliament) wants the Erdogan-supporters in Austria deported back to Turkey !

Yesterday, 5000 Pro-Erdogan Turks demonstrated in Vienna.

Because of this, Dönmez said that they should "be given a one-way ticket to Turkey, so that they can stay there".

He got immediately criticized by his Green party colleagues and SPÖ politicians.

On the other hand, the FPÖ paid respect to his comments thanking him for his "flawless democratic tenor".



http://www.salzburg.com/nachrichten/oesterreich/politik/sn/artikel/gruener-bundesrat-will-erdogan-anhaenger-abschieben-63186

There have been 3 different polls now about the Golan-pullout and all 3 have found support for the withdrawal between 64% and 69%. Only 20-25% support staying there, with the rest undecided.

I watched the Italy/Mexico game.

Italy was solid and always seems to be strong in these competitions where it matters.

Yes.

But "option 3" should not be an option here, because it distorts the poll results.

The question should be "should women be eligible for the draft in a system where the draft is the law ?"

Just came back from a 30-mile bike trip. Because the weather today is great, blue sky and projected 30-35°C in the afternoon thanks to the coming Sahara heat, I already made the tour in the morning hours, because otherwise the heat would kill me.

Took some pictures with my phone:

Q: If the special election for U.S. Senator were held today, who would you vote for: Ed Markey, Democrat or Gabriel Gomez, Republican?

Markey 49%
Gomez 37%
Not sure 14%

The sample size for the survey is 498 registered voters.  The margin of error is +/-4.39%.  The Interactive Voice Response (IVR) telephone survey was conducted June 10-11, 2013 by Harper Polling on behalf of Conservative Intel.

http://conservativeintel.com/613-conservative-intel-poll-of-ma-sen

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas has announced that he will resign on Monday after days of political turmoil.



His ruling coalition will try to form a new government led by someone nominated by his Civic Democratic Party (ODS).

Pressure had been growing on Mr Necas to quit since prosecutors on Friday charged his chief of staff Jana Nagyova with corruption and abuse of power.

Two former MPs, an ex-minister and the current and former heads of military intelligence have also been detained.

All except one have been remanded in custody.

President Milos Zeman has said the charges, brought after armed police raids on government and private offices on Wednesday, are "serious".

Up to 150m koruna (£5m; $8m) in cash, tens of kilograms of gold and large quantities of documents were seized during the raids.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22930710

This chart shows how many people here have quit the Catholic church each year:



In recent years, an average of more than 50.000 people have quit annually.

This means that Catholic membership, which is ca. 5.300.000 right now is declining by 1% annually (more in years with sex scandals).

Austria decided to withdraw its 400 men detachment from the Golan area.

Yes, the first 70 are already home and the rest will follow in the next 2 weeks.

Apparently, the Fiji Islands and maybe Sweden will replace the Austrians on the Golan Heights.

Good luck if the Syrians really decide to go to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv via the Golan Heights ...

In January, Austria voted with ca. 60-40 for keeping the draft system instead of a voluntary army.

Was there a significant gender difference in the referendum?

http://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=165607.msg3597545#msg3597545

[Syrian forces training to storm Israel's border]

Here is a more alarming version of this:

Syrian forces training to storm Israel's border

TEL AVIV – Thousands of Syrians are currently training in Iran to serve as a force ready to storm Israel’s northern Golan Heights, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.

The officials said between 3,000 and 5,000 Syrian men were being trained in the event Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decides to open a front against the Golan Heights, which borders Syria.

The training is being overseen by the Al Quds Force, the elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard responsible for the country’s extraterritorial operations, the sources said.

The Syrian forces are slated to return to their country next month, the sources added.

This is not the first report of Iran aiding Syria in preparations for ground attacks against Israel.

In May, WND reported the Iranian-backed Hezbollah was establishing training camps near the Syrian capital of Damascus to prepare for possible guerrilla warfare targeting the Golan Heights, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.

The officials said the camps are training Palestinian groups as well as special units connected to Assad’s Baath party for operations against Israel if such actions are green-lighted by Syria in the near future.

The officials said that for the time being, Russia has urged Assad against taking any action targeting Israel.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that as a way to keep the pressure on Assad, American warplanes and antimissile batteries will remain in Jordan following a military drill currently underway.

The Times further reported on CIA training for the rebels in Jordan under a covert program as well as a U.S. campaign to send weapons to the rebels via Jordan.

The Washington Post further reported on a U.S. decision to send weapons to the rebels through Turkey.

Link

Pics from the victory lap:

[even to the extent of proposing to open up a new ‘Syrian’ front on the Golan Heights against Israel.]

Iran to send 4000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria-link goes to Google search

The Independent on Sunday has learned that a military decision has been taken in Iran – even before last week’s presidential election – to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against the largely Sunni rebellion that has cost almost 100,000 lives in just over two years.  Iran is now fully committed to preserving Assad’s regime, according to pro-Iranian sources which have been deeply involved in the Islamic Republic’s security, even to the extent of proposing to open up a new ‘Syrian’ front on the Golan Heights against Israel.

Good that we are getting out of there right now ...

Maybe we in Austria will follow Norway after our September federal election.

Until then, the government will not touch this "hot" issue, likely because they don't want to piss off female voters.

In January, Austria voted with ca. 60-40 for keeping the draft system instead of a voluntary army.

[Norway extends draft to female recruits]

Norway extends draft to female recruits

Norway will soon become the only country in Europe to extend its military conscription to women in peacetime, after parliament reached agreement on the issue on Friday.

All of the parties represented in parliament, with the exception of the small Christian Democrat party, agreed to back a proposal by the centre-left government for a "gender neutral" military conscription.

In practice, that means that Norway's mandatory one-year military service will be extended to women, probably as of 2015, according to the defence ministry's proposal.

http://www.thelocal.no/20130615/norway-to-extend-conscription-to-female-recruits