Austrian Elections & Politics - Version 1.0

[Tender Branson]

I found some 2013 federal election results in Linz by district:



Mostly SPÖ wins, the Inner-City was Green and some ÖVP wins.

FPÖ won nothing, but got 32% in one district (Schörgenhub).

[Tender Branson]

Klagenfurt precinct maps by party (Klagenfurt is the capital of Carinthia):

http://www.klagenfurt.at/klagenfurt-am-woerthersee/downloads/NRW_2013_-Parteistimmenanteile_-_131001.pdf

[Tender Branson]

The Team Stronach in Tyrol is dissolved:

http://derstandard.at/1381374193084/Trubel-um-Team-Stronach-im-Westen

After Vorarlberg, this is the second state chapter that has collapsed in the last weeks.

[Tender Branson]

A few updates about the coalition talks:

The budget gap (24 Bio. € over the next 5 years) is the biggest topic in the talks. But it looks like they have now found ways to fill at least 16 Bio. of the 24 Bio. € budget gap. Measures to fill the remaining 8 Bio. € will be talked about in the coming days/weeks, but the SPÖVP people are still very confident to have the new government sworn in ahead of Christmas.

There's already a lot of progress on the coalition talks involving other government areas, such as education, Europe, science & culture etc. - many of those areas are already finished.

[Tender Branson]

The Upper Austria SPÖ gets a new leader today at the state convention, Reinhold Entholzer:



In federal elections, Upper Austria is Austria's "bellwether state", voting almost the same as the nation.

In state elections (the next in 2015), Upper Austria is traditionally ÖVP-country: In the last state election in 2009, the ÖVP got 47% and the SPÖ just 25%. The last time the SPÖ won a state election there was in 1967.

We'll see if the new party leader can narrow the gap until 2015 ...

http://derstandard.at/1381374238690/SPOe-Oberoesterreich-Ackerl-uebergibt-Vorsitz-an-Entholzer

[Tender Branson]

2 polls this weekend:

Market for "Trend"

25% FPÖ
23% SPÖ
22% ÖVP
13% Greens
  9% NEOS
  4% TS
  2% BZÖ
  2% Others

No majority for the "Grand" SPÖVP coalition.

http://www.format.at/articles/1347/930/369804/sonntagsfrage-fpoe-partei-strache-kanzler

Karmasin for "Profil"

26% SPÖ
23% FPÖ
23% ÖVP
14% Greens
  9% NEOS
  3% TS
  2% Others

Majority for SPÖVP.

http://www.profil.at/articles/1347/560/369783/umfrage-fpoe-oevp-gruene-neos

[Tender Branson]

From the Strache-Facebook page:



Previously, Strache always said: "We don't care about polls ! They are always wrong and show us behind ! Must unskew them ! Everything is possible !"

It seems this has changed ...

[Tender Branson]

The German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau weighs in:

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http://www.fr-online.de/politik/haushalts-loch-in-oesterreich-kapitaler-fehlstart-in-rot-schwarz,1472596,25098744.html

[Tender Branson]

Now the Team Stronach knows how it feels when someone defects from their party (-> BZÖ to Stronach):

http://derstandard.at/1381368561086/Monika-Lindner-wird-freie-Abgeordnete

Monika Lindner, former (Austrian public broadcaster) ORF director who ran for the Team Stronach, will leave the Team Stronach and become an independent member of parliament.

Lindner stepped down today as the only Independent member of the Parliament.

The next on the Team Stronach list will replace her as MP, which is former MISS WORLD from 1987 - Ulla Weigerstorfer:



http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/oesterreich/politik/590286_Ulla-Weigerstorfer-statt-Monika-Lindner.html

[Tender Branson]

The coalition talks are now about 80% done, according to the "Kurier" today:

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Contrary to the German coalition talks which were transparent, the Austrian ones are more like the Conclave, with just a few leaks coming out to the journalists, which then get repudiated by the SPÖVP people by virtually saying "just wait and see".

Which means we have to wait until the coalition contract is signed to know what's in there ...

http://kurier.at/politik/inland/durchbruch-bei-renten-steuerreform-vertagt/37.920.021

[Franzl]

Will there be white smoke at the end?

[Tender Branson]

The liberal NEOS cracks 10% for the first time in a poll (new Gallup one for Ö24):

[Tender Branson]

New 2015 Vienna state election poll by Gallup for Ö24 (sample = 400, Nov. 28-29):

34% SPÖ (-10%)
27% FPÖ (+1%)
13% Greens (nc)
13% ÖVP (-1%)
10% NEOS (+10%)
  1% TS (+1%)
  2% Others (KPÖ, Pirates)

Current Red-Green government would lose its majority (47% vs. 50%) !

...

Direct vote for Vienna Mayor:

54% Michael Häupl (SPÖ, incumbent mayor)
15% Manfred Juraczka (ÖVP)
13% Matthias Strolz (NEOS)
10% Johann Gudenus (FPÖ)
  8% Maria Vassilakou (Greens)

...

Also: 92% of those polled enjoy living in Vienna, with 64% enjoying it "very much".

What's dragging down the SPÖ is likely A) the federal coalition talks and B) the MaHü pedestrian area "meeting zone" that the Red-Green government implemented in the Vienna Inner City and that is only liked by Inner City voters, but opposed by all other Vienna voters, which means overall disapproval of the project with 53% and only 38% in favor.

http://file.oe24.at/epaper/#6

[Tender Branson]

Coalition talk update:

According to the news reports today, all topics except 2014-2018 budgets, pensions and administrative reforms/spending cuts are now finished.

But both sides say that the result in the end is more important than the time it takes.

And they are still optimistic that the contract can be signed before Christmas or New Year.

[Tender Branson]

The National Council is also in session right now:

http://megatv.to/Live-Stream/allgemein/orf-2-2.html

Strache (FPÖ-leader) currently speaking (-> SPÖVP lied about the "budget-gap" before the election, if the voters knew that, the FPÖ would have won the election etc. etc.)

[Tender Branson]

Strache dissing Hollande as being a "total failure" right now and having kind words for LePen.

[Tender Branson]

The Lower Austria Team Stronach has now split off from the federal party:

http://derstandard.at/1385169688034/Team-Stronach-NOe-Landtagsklub-spaltet-sich-ab

The party now calls itself "Team Lower Austria".

This is the 3rd of 9 state parties that has either dissolved or split off from the main party, with another (Carinthia) in major trouble.

Joke party ...

[Tender Branson]

The next "problem issue" in the coalition talks emerged today:

* Euthanasia

Apparently, the people responsible for coalition talks on the SPÖ and ÖVP sides for the broader topic "Direkte Demokratie und Staatsreform" (direct democracy and government/state reforms) have agreed to put a ban on Euthanasia into the Austrian Constitution.

http://derstandard.at/1385169836274/Widerstand-in-der-SPOe-gegen-verfassungsrechtliches-Sterbehilfe-Verbot

This is strange, because the SPÖ base is not amused with this and several people from the party have said "not with us". Greens and NEOS are shocked that the SPÖ wants a constitutional ban on Euthanasia and would of course not vote for it in Parliament.

FPÖ and Team Stronach said that they would vote for it.

So, the SPÖ is in a dilemma: Piss off their base severely and side with the Catholic Church (a.k.a. ÖVP) and other fundies, or get that topic out of the coalition contract again and risking once more the breakup of all the talks with the ÖVP, which already complained at the President today that the SPÖ is hitting the breaks too much in recent days ...

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/04/uk-austria-coalition-idUKBRE9B30HQ20131204

PS: Austrians back active euthanasia by a 60-30 margin (another issue, like gay marriage, where the Austrian public is much more progressive than their politicians).

[Tender Branson]

If they cannot get their act together in the next weeks, we are heading towards new elections together with the EU elections.

What would happen in this one ?

FPÖ likely becomes the biggest party ...

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

If they cannot get their act together in the next weeks, we are heading towards new elections together with the EU elections.

What would happen in this one ?

FPÖ likely becomes the biggest party ...

Something exciting is actually happening in Austrian politics?
I am surprised, nay shocked!

Though I'm sure they'll find common ground enough for the ever lasting boring Grand Coalition to continue for some more years. After all, in Austrian politics, shaking the boat would be much worse than a constitutional ban on euthanasia.

Why do the ÖVP want a constitutional ban anyway? I know they're Catholic, but putting something like that in the constitution seems as strange as putting hetero-marriage there.

   

[Tender Branson]

If they cannot get their act together in the next weeks, we are heading towards new elections together with the EU elections.

What would happen in this one ?

FPÖ likely becomes the biggest party ...

Something exciting is actually happening in Austrian politics?
I am surprised, nay shocked!

Though I'm sure they'll find common ground enough for the ever lasting boring Grand Coalition to continue for some more years. After all, in Austrian politics, shaking the boat would be much worse than a constitutional ban on euthanasia.

Why do the ÖVP want a constitutional ban anyway? I know they're Catholic, but putting something like that in the constitution seems as strange as putting hetero-marriage there.    

It mostly has to do with the fact that the ÖVP is still a pretty "backwards" party on some social issues. Euthanasia is one of them. Just your usual "sanctity of life" party.

I still don't know really what led them to approving same-sex civil unions a few years ago.

Maybe they realized that many voters would turn their back on them at the next polls (just like people are turning their back on the Catholic Church), if they keep living in the middle ages.

[Tender Branson]

The Austrian "words of the year" and "un-words of the year" have been chosen:

The un-word of the year 2013 is "inländerfreundlich" (native-citizen-friendly), a word used by the FPÖ in the campaign. It is a word similar to "xenophobic/anti-foreigner", just with a "very nice" sound ...

The word of the year 2013 is "FRANKschämen" (something like FRANK-shaming, or "being ashamed of FRANK Stronach). This is seen as a creative word to describe Stronach's horrible TV performances ahead of the election.

The un-phrase of the year 2013 is: "Es gibt kein Budgetloch. Es gibt nur Einnahmen und Ausgaben, die auseinanderklaffen." (There is no budget-gap. There are only revenues and expenditures that are diverging.) A phrase by Vienna mayor Michael Häupl.

The phrase of the year 2013 is: "Ich wähle die NSA, die interessieren sich wenigstens für mich !" (I vote for the NSA, at least they give a f**k about me !)

The Youth word of the year 2013 is: "whatsappen"

http://diepresse.com/home/panorama/oesterreich/1494493/Inlaenderfreundlich-ist-das-Unwort-des-Jahres-2013

[Beezer]

Should probably be mentioned that Frankschämen is a play on the word "fremdschämen" (pretty much means that you cringe at somebody acting in an embarrassing manner).

[Tender Branson]

New Market poll for the "Standard" today:

25% FPÖ
23% SPÖ
21% ÖVP
13% Greens
10% NEOS
  3% TS
  2% BZÖ
  3% Others

The "Grand" SPÖVP Coalition is no more ... (44-48).

Direct vote for Chancellor:

19% Strache (FPÖ)
18% Faymann (SPÖ)
14% Matthias Strolz (NEOS)
13% Spindelegger (ÖVP)
  9% Glawischnig (Greens)
  1% Stronach (TS)

http://derstandard.at/1385170166763/Bei-Neuwahl-kaeme-FPOe-auf-ersten-Platz

[Tender Branson]

New Kronen Zeitung poll today: