The 2012 Austrian Election Interlude: The rise of Frank Stronach and more ...

[Tender Branson]

Woah, the Styria-ÖVP is nuts !

The JVP, which is the Young ÖVP, made a spot in which a man is disguised as a green panther. This green panther, the heraldic animal of Styria, was abducted by a terrorist (probably SPÖ-Gov. Voves), and was followed by a Sherlock Holmes like detective to Gov. Voves house, where the young ÖVP filmed an abduction scene without speaking to the governor beforehand.

When Gov. Voves' wife looked out of her window, she saw a man dressed as the green panther with a noose around his neck and the rope held by another man dressed as terrorist.

She then called the criminal police that some crazy people are outside her house.

In 1 month, state elections will be held in Styria and the SPÖ and ÖVP are neck and neck.

The state SPÖ fumed and demanded an apology for breaking the privacy of the governor.

Yesterday, the state ÖVP embarrassingly said they will investigate within their party about this bizarre spot, but everyone in Styria is laughing at their idiocy ...

[Tender Branson]

The "left-wing hunting society's attacks" on Haider have no impact on polling numbers.

If they had any impact, it was a positive one for FPÖ/BZÖ.

New Gallup/Ö24 poll out today:

33% (-2) SPÖ
31% (-2) ÖVP
20% (+2) FPÖ
11% (nc) Greens
  4% (+2) BZÖ
  1% (nc) Others

Direct vote for Austrian Chancellor:

38% (+2) Werner Faymann (SPÖ-incumbent)
33% (+1) Josef Pröll (ÖVP)

Job Approval Ratings:

Faymann: 38% Approve, 32% Disapprove
Pröll: 36% Approve, 30% Disapprove

http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20100814_OTS0063/oesterreich-fpoe-legt-bei-sonntagsfrage-zu-regierung-schwaechelt

[Tender Branson]

New Vienna state elections poll by Gallup for Ö24:

45%  (-4) SPÖ
23% (+8) FPÖ
17%  (-2) ÖVP
11%  (-4) Greens
  3% (+2) BZÖ
  1%  (nc) Others

45% means that the SPÖ would lose its absolute majority in the city and would have to form a government with the Greens or the ÖVP.

Direct vote for Mayor of Vienna:

51% Michael Häupl (SPÖ-incumbent)
20% Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ)
18% Christine Marek (ÖVP)
11% Maria Vassilakou (Greens)

http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20100815_OTS0002/oesterreich-spoe-verliert-absolute-mehrheit-in-wien

New Styria state elections poll by Gallup for Ö24:

38% (-4)  SPÖ
37% (-2)  ÖVP
11% (+7) FPÖ
  6% (+1) Greens
  3% (-3)  KPÖ
  2% (nc)  BZÖ
  3% (+1) Others

Direct vote for Governor of Styria:

47% Franz Voves (SPÖ-incumbent)
35% Hermann Schützenhöfer (ÖVP)

http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20100815_OTS0003/oesterreich-bei-steiermark-wahl-liegt-spoe-knapp-vor-oevp

[Tender Branson]

Uh-oh ! New FPÖ campaign poster, seen in Vienna:



Let the pure-blood campaign begin, ala 1938:



http://www.helge.at/2010/08/reines-wiener-blut/

[Tender Branson]

New Vienna state elections poll by Market/Standard:

50% (+1) SPÖ
19% (+4) FPÖ
17%  (-2) ÖVP
14%  (-1) Greens

Federal elections in Vienna:

38% (+3) SPÖ
28% (+8) FPÖ

http://derstandard.at/1281829398565/Wien-Umfrage-SPOe-haelt-Absolute-Gruene-nur-auf-Platz-vier

Wow, this poll is strange. Hopefully OGM comes out with a poll to see who´s right: Gallup or Market.

[Tender Branson]

Today was the deadline for submitting signatures to be on the ballot for the Styria state elections.

Qualified statewide parties by ballot order:

* SPÖ
* ÖVP
* KPÖ
* Greens
* FPÖ
* BZÖ
* CPÖ

* Puma (a party by a guy who submitted 200 valid signatures, only in electoral district 4 - Leoben)

[Tender Branson]

Minor news:

Anas Schakfeh, the President of the Muslims in Austria (IGGiÖ), said today he wants a mosque that is clearly visible in every of the 9 states in Austria, including a minaret. He also opposes the planned requirement of Interior Minister Maria Fekter (ÖVP) that every immigrant is required to pass a German test before immigrating to Austria.

This is more ammo to the FPÖ and BZÖ, which have strongly condemned his remarks. Harald Vilimsky, the General Secretary of the FPÖ, has referred to mosques as "breeding grounds of radical Islam" and wants a total ban on immigrants from Muslim countries.

BZÖ-speaker and front runner in the Styria state elections Gerald Grosz said mosques are "nests of an inhuman and democracy hostile parallel-society" and called for a construction ban of mosques and minarets in every Austrian state.

FPÖ-leader Strache has also called the Vienna SPÖ a "Islamist Party" (they have a couple of Muslim candidates with contacts to German people who are in radical terror cells), after the SPÖ condemned the new FPÖ "pure-blood-campaign" in Vienna.

[minionofmidas]

I dunno, "Viennese blood" sounds like just another word for "mixed race Balkanese" to me.

[Tender Branson]

There´s actually a 4th mosque in Austria - with a 8 meter high minaret - and it´s actually in my district, in the city of Saalfelden.



But unlike the other 3 Austrian towns in which there was controversy about building the mosques with their minarets, the one in my district was already built in 2003 without any opposition.

Even the Salzburg-FPÖ and its leader Karl Schnell is supporting the mosque, as well as the SPÖ mayor, the local Catholic priest and the Anti-Terror authorities in Salzburg.

We also have many, many summer tourists in the Zell am See/Kaprun/Saalfelden area who are from Arab countries like the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar and they also are happy that they can visit a mosque in the district.

Good to see for the rest of Austria that my county can serve as an example in this case.

http://derstandard.at/1282273386518/Trotz-Minarett-Moschee-in-Saalfelden-stoert-nicht-einmal-die-FPOe

[Tender Branson]

2 new polls out today.

First the more important Styria state election poll by Market for "Standard":

39%  (nc)   ÖVP
37%  (-5)   SPÖ
  7%  (+2)  FPÖ
  6%  (+1)  Greens
  6%  (nc)   KPÖ
  3%  (+1)  BZÖ
  2%  (+1)  Others (CPÖ, Puma)

http://derstandard.at/1282978437223/Umfrage-OeVP-und-SPOe--sind-nahezu-gleichauf

There´s also a new federal "Profil" poll by Karmasin Motivforschung:

33%  (+4)  SPÖ
32%  (+6)  ÖVP
20%  (+2)  FPÖ
10%  (nc)  Greens
  3%  (-8)  BZÖ
  2%  (-4)  Others

http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20100828_OTS0007/profil-umfrage-spoe-vor-oevp-faymann-vor-proell

[Tender Branson]

Here´s the "Wahlkabine" for Steiermark (Styria):

http://www.politikkabine.at/wahlen/index.php?page=voter.Questionnaire

My results (consensus percentage with party positions):

Communists: 86%
Greens: 82%
SPÖ: 79%
CPÖ: 68%
BZÖ: 68%
FPÖ: 59%
ÖVP: 45%

[minionofmidas]

Greens 74
Commies 73
SPÖ 62
FPÖ 50
BZÖ 49
CPÖ 42
ÖVP 38

[Хahar 🤔]

There´s actually a 4th mosque in Austria - with a 8 meter high minaret - and it´s actually in my district, in the city of Saalfelden.



But unlike the other 3 Austrian towns in which there was controversy about building the mosques with their minarets, the one in my district was already built in 2003 without any opposition.

Even the Salzburg-FPÖ and its leader Karl Schnell is supporting the mosque, as well as the SPÖ mayor, the local Catholic priest and the Anti-Terror authorities in Salzburg.

We also have many, many summer tourists in the Zell am See/Kaprun/Saalfelden area who are from Arab countries like the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar and they also are happy that they can visit a mosque in the district.

Good to see for the rest of Austria that my county can serve as an example in this case.

http://derstandard.at/1282273386518/Trotz-Minarett-Moschee-in-Saalfelden-stoert-nicht-einmal-die-FPOe

The minaret seems quite unnecessary. But how are there only four mosques in Austria?

[Tender Branson]

There´s actually a 4th mosque in Austria - with a 8 meter high minaret - and it´s actually in my district, in the city of Saalfelden.



But unlike the other 3 Austrian towns in which there was controversy about building the mosques with their minarets, the one in my district was already built in 2003 without any opposition.

Even the Salzburg-FPÖ and its leader Karl Schnell is supporting the mosque, as well as the SPÖ mayor, the local Catholic priest and the Anti-Terror authorities in Salzburg.

We also have many, many summer tourists in the Zell am See/Kaprun/Saalfelden area who are from Arab countries like the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar and they also are happy that they can visit a mosque in the district.

Good to see for the rest of Austria that my county can serve as an example in this case.

http://derstandard.at/1282273386518/Trotz-Minarett-Moschee-in-Saalfelden-stoert-nicht-einmal-die-FPOe

The minaret seems quite unnecessary. But how are there only four mosques in Austria?

Because the Muslims are by-and-large happy with the about 200 large praying rooms they have accross the country.

I agree that you don´t really need to have a mosque with minarets, because A) it doesn´t fit the landscape, B) it agitates the Right as a symbol of Islamic Imperialism and C) in Indonesia, which is the biggest Muslim country, you`ll find many mosques, but almost none with a minaret. It simply isn´t necessary for them.

Talking of mosques and minarets:

The Styria FPÖ is out with a new online game called "mosque bye bye", in which you can shoot down muezzins from the minaret. When you have completed the game, it says "Styria is full of mosques with minarets ! If you don´t want that to happen: Vote FPÖ on September 26 !"

The Swiss SVP has also used this game prior to their infamous Anti-Mosque referendum (the PR firm that worked for the SVP is the same that is now working for the Styria FPÖ).

The Green frontrunner in Styria has sued the FPÖ because of incitement of the people and accused the FPÖ once again of "Susanne Winter methods".

www.moschee-baba.at

http://derstandard.at/1282978601717/Game-Moschee-Baba-FPOe-Werbung-laesst-Muezzins-abschiessen

[Хahar 🤔]

Ah, so the definition of mosque is different in Austria. Here, the praying rooms are also called mosques.

[Boris]

Talking of mosques and minarets:

The Styria FPÖ is out with a new online game called "mosque bye bye", in which you can shoot down muezzins from the minaret. When you have completed the game, it says "Styria is full of mosques with minarets ! If you don´t want that to happen: Vote FPÖ on September 26 !"

lol wtf

[Tender Branson]

New Styria state elections poll by Market for the newspaper "Kleine Zeitung":



Direct vote for Governor:



...

Plus:

966.901 people aged 16 and over will be eligible to vote on September 26.

500.276 women and 466.625 men are eligible.

http://www.kleinezeitung.at/steiermark/landtagswahl/index.do

[Tender Branson]

More info for the Vienna State and District Elections:

Tomorrow at 1pm is the deadline for submitting signatures to be on the ballot in Vienna.

A party needs 2950 signatures to be on the ballot city-wide.

These parties have already qualified to run city-wide:

* SPÖ (Social Democratic Party)
* ÖVP (People's Party)
* FPÖ (Freedom Party)
* Greens
* BZÖ (Alliance for the Future of Austria)
* KPÖ (Communist Party)

These parties have almost all signatures collected to be on the ballot city-wide:

* LIF (Liberal Forum)

These parties have no chance to be on the ballot city-wide, but will appear in some districts:

* SLP (Socialist Left Party)
* DEM (Platform for Direct Democracy)
* JULIS (Young Liberals)
* Pirate Party
* MUT (Humans, Environment, Animal Rights)
* Liste Wien
* CPÖ (Christian Party)
* KI (Communist Intiative)
* Aktive Arbeitslose (Active Unemployed)
* WIFF (Wir für Floridsdorf)

[Tender Branson]

BTW:

Don´t be too surprised if the Vienna Greens are not doing so well in the October elections.

Yesterday, a prominent Green member of the Federal Council of Austria - Stefan Schennach - changed parties and went over to the SPÖ.

Schennach, from the Vienna Greens, was one of the people closest to Vienna Green leader and frontrunner Maria Vassilakou and also one of the people who knew most about the Green campaign strategy for the upcoming elections. She called Schennach's party change at this time in the campaign a disaster and that she´s very angry about it.

The Vienna Greens are also in deep trouble because they split in 2 of their best districts, Mariahilf and Josefstadt. Now 2 Green lists will run in each of these dictricts, because of internal problems about the ballot-placement of frontrunners in these districts.

[Hans-im-Glück]

Here´s the "Wahlkabine" for Steiermark (Styria):

http://www.politikkabine.at/wahlen/index.php?page=voter.Questionnaire

My result:

KPÖ 70,6
Greens 70,4
SPÖ 66,7
FPÖ 59,8
BZÖ 54,8
CPÖ 53,1
ÖVP 35,5

[Tender Branson]

More info for the Vienna State and District Elections:

Tomorrow at 1pm is the deadline for submitting signatures to be on the ballot in Vienna.

A party needs 2950 signatures to be on the ballot city-wide.

These parties have already qualified to run city-wide:

* SPÖ (Social Democratic Party)
* ÖVP (People's Party)
* FPÖ (Freedom Party)
* Greens
* BZÖ (Alliance for the Future of Austria)
* KPÖ (Communist Party)

These parties have almost all signatures collected to be on the ballot city-wide:

* LIF (Liberal Forum)

These parties have no chance to be on the ballot city-wide, but will appear in some districts:

* SLP (Socialist Left Party)
* DEM (Platform for Direct Democracy)
* JULIS (Young Liberals)
* Pirate Party
* MUT (Humans, Environment, Animal Rights)
* Liste Wien
* CPÖ (Christian Party)
* KI (Communist Intiative)
* Aktive Arbeitslose (Active Unemployed)
* WIFF (Wir für Floridsdorf)

Update:

The LIF has failed to be on the ballot city-wide. They were able to collect signatures in only 15 of the 18 districts.

There´s also a new Gallup/Ö24 poll out today:

46% ( -3) SPÖ
23% (+8) FPÖ
16%  (-3) ÖVP
10%  (-5) Greens
  2% (+1) BZÖ
  3% (+2) Others (KPÖ)

http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20100904_OTS0043/oesterreich-umfrage-fuer-wien-wahl-spoe-mit-46-fpoe-bei-23-gruene-nur-10

There´s also a new Profil/Karmasin Motivforschung poll:

"Do you favor or oppose the construction of new mosques with minarets in Austria ?"

35% Favor
52% Oppose
13% Undecided

http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20100904_OTS0008/profil-jeder-zweite-gegen-weitere-minarette-in-oesterreich

[Tender Branson]

There´s still a rather right race in Styria (also Gallup for Ö24):



The lead is bouncing back and forth from SPÖ to ÖVP. In one poll the ÖVP is ahead by 2%, then in the next poll, it´s the SPÖ by 2% and so on. I think if the race is tied until the end, I think I´d give the ÖVP the edge, because their voters are easier to mobilize.

[Tender Branson]

Today, the Vienna SPÖ kicked off its election campaign with a convention in the City-Hall and 7000 delegates. Even Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe (PS) came to help out mayor Michael Häupl and was one of the speakers at the event.



In other news, the Young ÖVP has proposed that sermons in Austrian mosques should be mandatory in German.

[minionofmidas]

Ah, so the definition of mosque is different in Austria. Here, the praying rooms are also called mosques.

Yeah, I find the distinction here quite bewildering. Surely many of these "praying rooms" are mosques in all respects. Must be something to do with tax status.

[minionofmidas]

Ah, Austria. The country where the leading tabloid does not run naked women on about a dozen Christian holidays per year.

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