Austrian Elections & Politics - Version 1.0

[DavidB.]

Of course, since they are private channels they can refuse to air FPÖ-ads.

But it's not "fair and balanced" if they are only airing SPÖ ads instead ...

That's true, but that is their own choice. What's more, it gives the FPÖ a new opportunity to whine about the "establishment" being unfair/undemocratic/out of touch/"demonizing", so I think this might even benefit them.

[DavidB.]

'Sonderberichterstattung und Analysis which derzeitigen Migration Lage'

Google Translate?

Seems like an epic fail that this has been leaked to the media. Reports like this should remain confidential for a reason. Is it Mikl-Leitner who is in charge of this? She will hopefully face serious questions about this.

Also, I cannot think of a better start of the final week of campaigning for the FPÖ.

[DavidB.]

Wow, that's crazy:

The FPÖ apparently thinks the SPÖ will "steal" the election somehow and offers 5.000€ for voters to report any "irregularity or fraud" in next Sunday's vote. The amount will only be paid though if someone is convicted and sentenced by a court for voter fraud ...

That's really ridiculous, because the FPÖ has one of their guys sitting in every single election commission in each of the 1.500 voting precincts. If there'd be "voter fraud" (and I'm not aware of a case in Austria recently), their guy in the election commission would notice it, right ?

[photo]

http://derstandard.at/2000023184628/Wien-Wahl-FPOe-zahlt-5000-Euro-fuer-Hinweise-auf-Wahlbetrug

I think they don't really think that the SPÖ will steal the election, but that this is just a tactic to boost turnout among angry voters who might stay home otherwise.

[DavidB.]

Turnout was 37,8% at 14:00, compared to 36,6% in 2010.

[DavidB.]

When will the polling stations close again? When do we have an exit poll?

[DavidB.]

It seems Austrian pollsters seem to have done a decent job both in the OÖ and the Viennese election. Maybe they could teach UK and Israeli pollsters a lesson or two.

[DavidB.]

The live stream doesn't work so well. Do others encounter the same problem?

[DavidB.]

We'll get a Hochrechnung in two minutes, right?

[DavidB.]

Oh. Then I'll go to the supermarket

[DavidB.]

That's very interesting. Seems like FPÖ has been overpolled and SPÖ has been underpolled. Also GfW at 1.1%, wow.

[DavidB.]

Yeah, it seems like many ÖVP voters went SPÖ this time because they didn't want the FPÖ to become the largest party. Interesting. Not the expected electoral earthquake, yet quite a stable situation compared to last time: Vienna is simply Vienna, I suppose. Everything below 33% will be underwhelming and disappointing for the FPÖ, I think.

[DavidB.]

How the hell do they count this fast? I count votes myself every election, and that definitely takes at least two hours.

[DavidB.]

Some more SPÖ voters will have come from the Greens too, I suppose, Bobostan appears very unusually red this time as well.

Yes, that's probably why the Greens are losing a little bit. I think NEOS could have done some % better as well if it weren't for the two-horse race (that never was) between SPÖ and FPÖ.

[DavidB.]

What I don't understand... these are elections for both the Gemeinderat and the Landtag? The ORF website says that the prognosis is for the Gemeinderat - does this mean that the Landtag will be different, or is it one and the same entity...?

[DavidB.]

I have mixed feelings about the results. On the one hand I dislike red-green coalitions everywhere (not a left-leftist ). On the other hand this is Vienna, and the last time "Soziale Heimatpartei" remotely comparable to the FPÖ in some respects was this popular, a part of my family had to flee the city (some didn't manage to do so in time), so rooting for a party that actively references to that past as if it's something positive seems... wrong to me, personally. In that way, the red-green "win" (they still lost quite some votes) isn't too bad. Ah well, I have no horse in this race, so I'll just be analyzing the results and that'll be fine for me.

Has David Lasar been re-elected?

[DavidB.]

Exactly, there are instances when a supermajority is necessary. See the Viennese constitution and ctrl+f for "Drittel".

[DavidB.]

Also: The "voter fraud" that the FPÖ feared did not take place. What a surprise !

Obviously the left-leftist fraud-prone evil SPÖ cronies got cold feet when Strache's brave patriots, alert as always, started to become truly vigilant in order to prevent fraud

[DavidB.]

That's an amazingly good result for the FPÖ, defying, meanwhile, the idea that the FPÖ would have had a plurality if it weren't for the immigrant vote. I guess it's not really surprising that (probably) immigrants from former Yugoslavia swing heavily toward the FPÖ.

[DavidB.]

The fact that the FPÖ got 34/100 seats yesterday and therefore was outfitted by the voters with the so-called Verfassungssperrminorität (= "constitutional blocking minority") shows that voters wanted to strengthen checks-and-balances in Vienna.

I'm sorry, but I don't buy this. I don't see evidence for the "voters wanted to strengthen checks and balances by voting FPÖ" hypothesis. First of all, the FPÖ having a blocking minority doesn't mean "checks and balances" are strengthened, it just means that the FPÖ can block things they don't like. Secondly, as far as I know, this hasn't been an issue during the campaign. The FPÖ didn't make an effort to tell people who don't have FPÖ as their first preference that there would be more "checks and balances" if they were voted in - the FPÖ simply said that their program was the best and therefore people should vote for them, convincing enough people to obtain this blocking minority. Let's be clear, I'm not unhappy with this, but I don't see any evidence for what you are saying.

I am all for helping children fleeing from war but there need to be more strict controls and regulations regarding this, but nothing extreme like putting up fences etc.. A good example would be the Asylum on time that the OVP suggested, althought it was probably just a stunt to raise up some votes.

Does the ÖVP even want that? If yes, since when? Since the FPÖ started convincing voters?

[DavidB.]

Is BZO still around? lmao

He probably aimed at the ÖVP being the "mix" of SPÖ, FPÖ and the Greens.

Some former BZÖ people participated in the elections together with some people from Team Stronach on a list named Wir Wollen Wahlfreiheit (WWW). Indeed, pretty much lmao.

[DavidB.]

Still, it is very telling that Western European Social Democrats and Greens have a tendency to talk a lot about tolerance and openness, but cannot stand party members with a migrant background being open about the problems in their communities - for ideological reasons ("don't break my happy multicultural bubble", which often applies to Greens) or for electoral reasons (being too honest = scaring away constituencies that vote heavily for this party - this often applies to Social Democrats). Ayaan Hirsi Ali switching from PvdA to VVD in the Netherlands is also an excellent example for this.

[DavidB.]

Well, it might be entirely legitimate for the Greens to say goodbye to him, but it might simultaneously be entirely legitimate for Tender to draw his own conclusions from that fact.

[DavidB.]

Yeah, that wasn't exactly the best comparison. Still, what would the Austria thread be without this kind of hyperboles

Edit: wow, I don't know why it posted this 9 times or so...