Austrian Elections & Politics - Version 1.0

[DavidB.]

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

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sub-national entities having "constitutions" is weird.

[Cranberry]

how is the demographic and social conditions in the east art of the city? which I see the FPO carried

I see the OVP at under 10% that must be the all time lowest

The districts on the east bank of the Danube, Floridsdorf and Donaustadt, are mostly suburban; there is a bit of urban development (UNO-City, Donauturm...) along the river, but on their outer parts there are many yet completely undeveloped parts, and suburban villages among them. They are mostly lower to lower-middle class suburbs; the richer ones are found on the west side, among the hills of the Wienerwald.

Sub-national entities having "constitutions" is weird.

It seems, from a short look, it's practically just stating which districts there are and what the Gemeinderat and the mayor are allowed to do. It's an Austrian constitution though, meaning it's not worth the paper it's written on - the 2/3 majority is regularly used to make some laws that other parties support not so easy to override. That's what Strache meant with it, that this won't be possible without FPÖ-support.

[Tender Branson]

Irrespective of all the other issues at hand, it is good to see a competent big city administration re-elected.

Competent when it comes to city administration, yes. Vienna is not the "world's most liveable city" in some rankings without a reason.

But horrible when it comes to creating jobs in the city, while stuffing hundreds of thousands of people who became unemployed into training courses to hide the exploding unemployment numbers in the past 7 years, while also piling up the debt (Vienna debt went up 5x in the past few years). This is a common problem of the Left though which needs to be addressed.

Sub-national entities having "constitutions" is weird.

Spoken like a true French centralist ...

[Tender Branson]

More than 160.000 postal ballots will be counted today in the late afternoon.

This should push turnout to between 74-75%.

I'll post the final results of the election in the evening.

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

[Tender Branson]

Looking at the results (SPÖ clearly beating the FPÖ after polls showed a close race, by getting some Green- and ÖVP loan votes), I think an episode from the TV debate could have made the difference for some left-wing voters:

During the debate, Vassilakou (Greens) showed the audience a picture. It showed an asylum seeker family incl. a child arriving at an asylum seeker centre in Vienna, while being "greeted" by FPÖ-supporters with hostile chants of "asylum seekers out !" and "no asylum centres here !" etc.



When confronted with the picture, Strache tried to downplay it.

SPÖ, Green, ÖVP and NEOS debate candidates attacked him and said that it's unworthy and inhumane to deploy FPÖ people to scare asylum families and especially children.

And Strache, no joke, replied: "Which child ? There is no child."

And the others then said: "What about the child in the picture ?"

---

This was probably a deciding moment which directed the Left-protest vote away from the Greens to the SPÖ in the final days.

[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

[Tender Branson]

From the Exit Poll:

How did voters with a migrant background (= ca. 20% of all eligible voters) vote ?

45% SPÖ
24% FPÖ
16% Greens
  6% ÖVP
  6% NEOS
  3% Others

[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.

[Tender Branson]

The party breakdown by age is extremely interesting, because it shows that Vienna is the total opposite to other Austrian states.

In Vienna, old people are more likely to vote FPÖ than young people - whereas in all other Austrian states young people are the most FPÖ-voting ones and the olds have the lowest FPÖ-percentage:



http://www.sora.at/fileadmin/downloads/wahlen/2015_Vienna-city-council-election_Motives.pdf

http://www.sora.at/fileadmin/downloads/wahlen/2015_Election-Vienna_Voter-Transitions.pdf

http://www.sora.at/index.php?id=404&L=1

[Tender Branson]

Hi guys im a bit new to politics and i have one question, sorry if its a stupid one..

Hc Strache posted this:

2) Wir haben mit einem Drittel der Mandate (ein plus von 7 Mandaten) eine zukünftige Verfassungssperrminorität. Es gibt keine Verfassungsmehrheit im Wiener Landtag ohne uns. Rot-Grün können daher kein Ausländerwahlrecht beschließen.

(2) We have a third of the seats (an increase of 7 mandates) a future constitution blocking minority. There is no constitutional majority in the parliament in Vienna without us. Red-green can therefore decide not foreigners suffrage.) Translate at work..

And i dont get it, dont you just need 51 seats for a koalition, here he says something completely different so can someone please explain to me what he means by this.. Thank you!

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. It's now impossible for SPÖGreensÖVPNEOS to change the citystate constitution, for example to allow non-citizens to vote in future state elections.

[Tender Branson]

Has David Lasar been re-elected?

As he was ranked 10th on the FPÖ-list and the party won 34 seats, yes.

[SPQR]

Turnout is approaching 74% (+6%) - which is probably the best thing today.

In a city of 2 million people to have 74% turnout is remarkable these days.

I would rather say the FPÖ having a result significantly below their poll numbers and the likely continuation of Red-Green is the best thing, but that's probably just the left-leftist me

Today, Red-Green deserved some trashing though and they badly need to change course with their politics: Unemployment has risen by 85% in their past term and they need to tackle this in their new term, instead of changing pedestrian lanes ("MaHü"). People and their jobs are more important than this.

Erm,how exactly is a municipal administration supposed to create thousands of jobs?

[Tender Branson]

Turnout is approaching 74% (+6%) - which is probably the best thing today.

In a city of 2 million people to have 74% turnout is remarkable these days.

I would rather say the FPÖ having a result significantly below their poll numbers and the likely continuation of Red-Green is the best thing, but that's probably just the left-leftist me

Today, Red-Green deserved some trashing though and they badly need to change course with their politics: Unemployment has risen by 85% in their past term and they need to tackle this in their new term, instead of changing pedestrian lanes ("MaHü"). People and their jobs are more important than this.

Erm,how exactly is a municipal administration supposed to create thousands of jobs?

Mostly by reducing the ridiculous & business-unfriendly bureaucratic stones that SPÖ-Greens are throwing in the way of potential business owners. Things the NEOS-woman and the ÖVP-guy talked about. Vienna has to move away from a system of solicitation to the mayor if you want to start business and become more business friendly again. With restrictions like these, Austria has fallen way back in business climate and -friendlyness in the past 10 years. A decade ago, Austria was in the top-5 of countries who are the most business-friendly and attractive for new companies to settle, now we are only 30th globally. The SPÖ needs to take up at least some ideas from NEOS/ÖVP, because they know how to keep us competetive. SPÖ/Greens have mostly an interest to increase debt and hide people in unemployment training.

[Tender Branson]

Vienna ÖVP-leader Manfred Juraczka stepping down after his party got the worst result ever.

Gernot Blümel (33), currently General Secretary of the federal ÖVP, will follow him as leader:

[Tender Branson]

In Upper Austria meanwhile all signs are pointing towards a ÖVP-FPÖ coalition, as Gov. Pühringer said today "talks with the FPÖ have a priority for him".

http://derstandard.at/2000023596810/Puehringer-fuehrt-Koalitionsgespraeche-mit-Prioritaet-zur-FPOe

Of course, Upper Austria has Proporz, which means every party above 10% is automatically in the state government. The ÖVP will likely have 4 government posts (incl. that of the Governor), the FPÖ 3 and SPÖ and Greens 1 each.

The new government should be ready by Oct. 23, when the new state parliament convenes.

[Omega21]

Such a shame we cant get a healthy mix of fpo, spo and grune in one party, as i think the SPO is too lenient on its Asylum policies accepting anyone and everyone and straining the Austrian economy and welfare system which the Austrian people pay in to. Also not to mention the other cultural/security risks that this brings. 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.


Anyway, what do you guys think, will the FPO trend continue towards the 2018 Legislative elections?

[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?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Such a shame we cant get a healthy mix of fpo, spo and grune in one party,

Is BZO still around? lmao

[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.

[Omega21]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

kurier at/politik/inland/fluechtlinge-oevp-verteidigt-asyl-auf-zeit/156.775.523
orf at/stories/2302238/

If i understand correctly the OVP is defending it's idea of Asylum on time, although i think this is just a way to get more votes...


My opinion is if the Red's dont make significant changes in the next year or two then they must be voted down, even if it means brining in FPO.

A countries biggest priority is it's citizens already living there, there should be a limit on how many Asylum seekers are accepted each year, as multiculturism has failed big time in Sweden as seen here: .youtube com/watch?v=9up0CLLPPpo
and this is because of a lack of integration, I am moving to Austria next year for studies and ofcourse i am doing my best to learn German Asap and to integrate into the country, but many of the middle eastern immigrants just dont give a damn, not to generalise though, there are a lot of well educated people from there to.

[Tender Branson]

Final results of the Vienna state election (with all postal ballots counted):



39.59% SPÖ (-4.75%) - 44 seats
30.79% FPÖ (+5.02%) - 34 seats
11.84% Greens (-0.80%) - 10 seats
  9.24% ÖVP (-4.75%) - 7 seats
  6.16% NEOS (+6.16%) -  5 seats
  1.07% ANDAS (+1.07%)
  0.91% GFW (+0.91%)
  0.21% WWW (+0.21%)
  0.16% WIFF (+0.16%)
  0.04% Others

1.143.076 - eligible voters
   854.406 - total votes cast
     21.425 - invalid votes cast
   832.981 - valid votes cast

Turnout: 74.75% (+7.12%)

https://www.wien.gv.at/english/NET-EN/GR151/GR151-109.htm

...

Clickable maps with party strength by district and turnout data (on the left the maps are for the state election, on the right the maps are for the district/"municipal" elections):

http://orf.at/wahl/wien15/#analysis

[Tender Branson]

Turnout (75%) btw was the highest in a Vienna state election since 1983 ... !

[Tender Branson]

In Upper Austria meanwhile all signs are pointing towards a ÖVP-FPÖ coalition, as Gov. Pühringer said today "talks with the FPÖ have a priority for him".

http://derstandard.at/2000023596810/Puehringer-fuehrt-Koalitionsgespraeche-mit-Prioritaet-zur-FPOe

Of course, Upper Austria has Proporz, which means every party above 10% is automatically in the state government. The ÖVP will likely have 4 government posts (incl. that of the Governor), the FPÖ 3 and SPÖ and Greens 1 each.

The new government should be ready by Oct. 23, when the new state parliament convenes.

The government talks in Upper Austria are going to be tough between ÖVP and FPÖ, because the ÖVP lost so much and the FPÖ gained that much.

And because Upper Austria has 9 state cabinet posts under Proporz, it's still not known if the ÖVP will get 3 or 4 cabinet posts (currently, they have 5).

The ÖVP demands that they are getting 4, while the election results would yield them only 3.

The SPÖ demands 2, but the ÖVP would give them only 1.

The FPÖ is solidaric with the SPÖ and also wants the ÖVP to cede them one of their own.

Also, the FPÖ demands a strong FPÖ-handwriting in a possible ÖVP-FPÖ coalition contract, such as more money and investments into local infrastructure, police and firebrigades and that their cabinet posts also "wield some power", which means that they are not getting sidelined by the ÖVP with being responsible for non-important policy areas ...

The FPÖ actually has good cards against the ÖVP, because they can always threaten to leave the talks and enter a coalition with the SPÖ ... (FPÖ-SPÖ would have a majority of seats in Upper Austria) and sideline the ÖVP ...

[FredLindq]

What happened?!

Why did all opinion polls and predictions overestimate the support off FPÖ?!

Was it the anti-FPÖ campaign by the SPÖ in the final days?!