Austrian Elections & Politics - Version 1.0

[Tender Branson]

The good thing is that the SPÖ minister who's responsible for Infrastructure and the Internet (Stöger) is opposed to a new law.

Also, the Constitutional Court's leading judge said that because of the precedent of their ruling it would be unlikely that the new law would stand if it is brought before the Court again.

...

Amazing how eager the ÖVP ministers (Mikl-Leitner, Brandstetter) are in their plans to start spying on the population again.

[Tender Branson]

For the first time since Oct. 2013, the SPÖ is at 28% again in a poll for the federal elections.

IMAS for the "Krone":

28% SPÖ (+1 compared with '13 federal election)
27% ÖVP (+3)
25% FPÖ (+4)
13% Greens (+1)
  5% NEOS (nc)
  1% TS (-5)
  1% Others (-4)

It also means that for the first time since the 2013 federal elections, SPÖ and ÖVP both have more support now than in that election.

[Tender Branson]

So, the Vienna-SPÖ convention took place today and Mayor Häupl was re-elected party leader with 96%, which is not bad considering recent events*.

*Background:

Austria, like any other EU country, has to submit it's budget outlines for 2016-2019 to the EU by the end of April.

Our new Finance Minister (a balanced-budget hawk) has asked the federal ministers to find 500 Mio. € of cuts for that time period, so that Austria can finally achieve a balanced budget starting next year.

The SPÖ favours cuts in public administration (which is ÖVP-union dominated). The SPÖ and the ÖVP-finance minister said that public administration needs to shoulder the bulk of savings, for example by requiring teachers to spend 2 hours more in the classroom each week for a total of 24 hours each week (excl. after-class work). The public administration union (especially political dinosaur Neugebauer) and the teacher's union immediately opposed the plans.

Then, political dinosaur & Vienna-mayor Häupl (SPÖ) made a highly controversial statement:

He said: "If I spend just 24 hours working each week like the teachers, I'd be finished by Tuesday with my workweek."



That of course severely pissed off the teachers and their union and they demanded that Häupl should apologize to them. The SPÖ-teachers also announced that they wouldn't march at the SPÖ's big "Labour March" on Labour Day, May 1.

So, it was not clear if Häupl would take a hit at the convention today or not ... He didn't.

It also remains to be seen if the government and the unions find a way to cut public admin spending for the next years, to balance the budget. The public admin unions are known for heavy blocking and snail-like behaviour when it comes to reforms in their areas and the elimination of their privileges ...

The Vienna state election is on October 11.

http://diepresse.com/home/politik/innenpolitik/4711480/SPOLandesparteitag_958-Prozent-fur-Haeupl

[Hash]

What a moron. Being a teacher is an extremely demanding and difficult job.

[Cranberry]

New poll for Tirol (state elections in 2018).
GfK for "Tiroler Tageszeitung"

ÖVP - 39%
Greens - 16%
SPÖ - 13%
FPÖ - 13%
Liste Fritz - 5%
Liste Gurgiser - 4%
NEOS - 4%
Impuls/Vorwärts Tirol - 3%

The current state government is ÖVP-Greens

[Tender Branson]

Thanks for posting, Cranberry.



It should be noted that Fritz, Gurgiser and Impuls/VT are basically ÖVP-splinter groups.

So, you can also read the poll as:

ÖVP - 51%
Greens - 16%
SPÖ - 13%
FPÖ - 13%
NEOS - 4%
Others - 3%

[Cranberry]

You also have to note that, because of being splinter groups, they will never join in coalition with the ÖVP. So it's more like:

ÖVP - 39%
Greens - 16%
SPÖ - 13%
FPÖ - 13%
ÖVP-splinters - 12%
NEOS - 4%

[Tender Branson]

What a moron. Being a teacher is an extremely demanding and difficult job.

There are 2 sides to the coin though:

* First, you are right that the comment was offensive, but Häupl is known to make his standpoint and make controversial statements like these. Obviously, this was meant to stir up the hornets nest and start the debate on public admin reform, rather than insulting the teachers.

* On the other hand, the Austrian teachers and their unions - especially the older ones and those long in service - have over the years built up several privileges for themselves. They earn between 3000-6000€ a month and have 12 weeks off each year. The average Austrian worker earns 2000€ and has 5 weeks off. And they, like all other PAWorkers, get a solid pension afterwards. Of course, there's some work to do besides being in class and therefore teachers are certainly working 40-hour weeks too - but there's a sense that they have to pay their fair share too for balancing the budget, which is why there are now calls for them to actually spend more time with the students, also to improve quality and save costs. In recent years, the retirees had to bear pension increases that were no higher than the inflation rates (usually, they are higher than the inflation rates), and now the teachers are called to step up. After all, the public admin sector incl. their own pension system is the one that has the highest budget spending increase each year, together with the regular pension system. Which means, if you want to cut spending and balance the budget in Austria there's almost no way around cutting into PAWs benefits and pensions ...

[Zanas]

1. The teachers are not getting paid too much or have too much paid leave, everybody else is getting too few.

2. Only in Austria can you find a social-democrat (but can the SPÖ still be described as even this ?) trolling the conservative unionized teaching profession for not working enough...

[Cranberry]

2. Only in Austria can you find a social-democrat (but can the SPÖ still be described as even this ?) trolling the conservative unionized teaching profession for not working enough...

Lol yes, though Häupl is one step further than the rest of the party as well. And no, I don't think that the SPÖ of 2015 can be described as anything other than an ideology-less mess clinging to power.

[Tender Branson]

The government passed the Finanzrahmen ("budget frame", or "budget path") for 2016-2019 today:

The budget deficits are now projected to go down from 2.4% in 2014 to 0.5% of GDP in 2019.

Debt is projected to peak this year and drop below 80% in 2019.



There's another chart, which shows budget outlays (red) and revenues (green) by year and the deficits below.

On the lower part you can see a spending comparison (2015 vs. 2019) for each budgetary section and the projected % changes.

[Tender Branson]

8 parties on the ballot for the May 31 state election in Styria:

* SPÖ (already in state parliament, no signatures needed)
* ÖVP (already in state parliament, no signatures needed)
* FPÖ (already in state parliament, no signatures needed)
* Greens (already in state parliament, no signatures needed)
* KPÖ/Communists (already in state parliament, no signatures needed)

* NEOS (by collecting more than 800 signatures, 4x200 per electoral district)
* Team Stronach (by collecting more than 800 signatures, 4x200 per electoral district)
* Pirates (by collecting more than 200 signatures in 1/4 electoral districts, Graz & Umgebung)

[Tender Branson]

New Burgenland poll (Gallup for Ö24) for the May 31 state election:



NEOS and LBL are below the 4% threshold.

Allthough the poll's MoE is +/-5%, it's unlikely that the SPÖ will get an absolute majority (44-50).

The most likely coalition after the election is SPÖ-ÖVP (like now), followed by SPÖ-FPÖ.

Direct vote for Governor:



http://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Niessl-verfehlt-die-Absolute/185778860

[Tender Branson]

7 parties on the ballot for the May 31 state election in Burgenland:

* SPÖ (already in state parliament, no signatures needed)
* ÖVP (already in state parliament, no signatures needed)
* FPÖ (already in state parliament, no signatures needed)
* Greens (already in state parliament, no signatures needed)
* LBL/Team Stronach joint list (LBL already in state parliament, no signatures needed)

* NEOS (by collecting more than 180 signatures in all districts)
* CPÖ (on the ballot in 6/7 districts, failed in Oberpullendorf by just 4 signatures)

[Tender Branson]

New Profil/Unique Research poll:

27% SPÖ
26% FPÖ
24% ÖVP
14% Greens
  6% NEOS
  2% TS
  1% Others

http://www.profil.at/oesterreich/umfrage-spoe-fpoe-faymann-strache-5619926

[Tender Branson]

New Gallup poll for the May 31 state election in Styria:

[Cranberry]

That does not look too bad, we have seen worse from Styria

[Tender Branson]

That does not look too bad, we have seen worse from Styria

Yeah, the FPÖ once polled at 25-30% there but it seems the "outcry" about the municipal mergers/administrative reform has now more or less evaporated.

The SPÖVP "reform-coalition" will still get heavily punished at the polls though.

[Tender Branson]

New OGM/Kurier poll about what to do with the African/Middle-Eastern boat refugees:



http://kurier.at/politik/inland/kurier-ogm-umfrage-bootsfluechtlinge-ja-zu-rettung-nein-zu-mehr-hilfe-in-oesterreich/127.055.500

"One idea is to set up initial refugee camps in Northern Africa or their countries of origin, in which refugees can apply for ayslum."

65-25 in favour

"The EU proposes to rescue more boat refugees in trouble than before. After their request for asylum has been processed in their entry country, they can either stay or be deported."

56-30 in favour

"Should the EU try to block ships with refugees on board with military power, already before they start to cross the Med. Sea in North Africa ?"

48-35 in favour

"Should Austria take up more, the same amount or less refugees than in 2014 ?"

17% more
35% the same amount
42% less

(with regards to the last question it should be noted that Austria took up 30.000 refugees in 2014, which is the 3rd-highest per-capita amount in the EU after Sweden and Malta).

[Lotuslander]

2. Only in Austria can you find a social-democrat (but can the SPÖ still be described as even this ?) trolling the conservative unionized teaching profession for not working enough...

OK. I find this fascinating. In lowly-unionized North America, generally speaking, teacher unions are basically centre-left.

So how is it, with highly unionized Austria concurrently with an SPÖ tradition, are teacher unions there "conservative"? From my perspective, just does not make poli logical sense.

Look forward to any analytical response. Thanks.

[Tender Branson]

2. Only in Austria can you find a social-democrat (but can the SPÖ still be described as even this ?) trolling the conservative unionized teaching profession for not working enough...

OK. I find this fascinating. In lowly-unionized North America, generally speaking, teacher unions are basically centre-left.

So how is it, with highly unionized Austria concurrently with an SPÖ tradition, are teacher unions there "conservative"? From my perspective, just does not make poli logical sense.

Look forward to any analytical response. Thanks.

Your [more or less] incorrect sentence already provides the answer:

Even though Austria is highly-unionized, the unions do not have a SPÖ-"tradition", not to mention a Social-Democratic/Socialist-dominated one (like in other countries).

In Austria, after WW2, the so-called "Social Partnership" was set up by our "Founding Fathers", the good and hard-working people with political vision and a grasp for political compromise instead of endless strikes and political bickering, that you can barely find these days.

To make a long story short, it basically meant that a union system incl. union representatives (Personalvertreter) was established, with all parties represented. That means that state employees can even vote for FPÖ- or Green- or KPÖ-union representatives in their "union elections".

And over the years, the ÖVP-union was pretty successful in "cultivating" their teachers: In recent union-elections, primary/secondary teachers all voted for the FCG (the ÖVP-aligned) union with 50-80%, while only university teachers/professors voted Green.

On the other hand, police officers and correctional officers vote mostly SPÖ/ÖVP (the FSG has a slight advantage) with a stronger FPÖ-showing (25%), which I guess has to do with the high amount of foreigners in prison.

[Cranberry]

You also have to include that public servants, which teachers are, were never seen as "workers" in the strict sense of the word, so not as SPÖ-clients. The public servants union also was always dominated by the ÖVP, especially in states which are/were dominated by the ÖVP until recently (basically everything but Burgenland, Kärnten and Vienna) - you kind of supported your employer (my dad for example, public servant in the ÖVP stronghold Tyrol is a full ÖVP supporter)

[Lotuslander]

Thanks Tender and Senator. Fully grasp now and appreciate your comments. Always follow this interesting thread even though I don't post.

BTW, if I didn't know any better, you guys are English language profs first and foremost (esp. Tender). If not, then your English grammar is a helluva lot better than many folk here in North America.

[Tender Branson]

Thanks Tender and Senator. Fully grasp now and appreciate your comments. Always follow this interesting thread even though I don't post.

BTW, if I didn't know any better, you guys are English language profs first and foremost (esp. Tender). If not, then your English grammar is a helluva lot better than many folk here in North America.

No problem

PS: Thx. I think Cranberry's English is actually much better than mine. My English was not nearly that good when I was at his age and he has the benefit of actually being in school right now. This helps too. I don't talk English at all in real life.

[Tender Branson]

A new Market poll for the "Standard" asks:

"Do you favour the current PR-system or do you want a FPTP-system ?"

35% PR
35% FPTP
30% Undecided

Old men and SPÖ/FPÖ-voters favour a FPTP-system.

People with higher education favour the current PR-system.

http://derstandard.at/2000014886456/Jeder-Dritte-wuenscht-sich-Mehrheitswahlrecht