Austrian Elections & Politics - Version 1.0

[Zanas]

* The Team Stronach is falling further apart and one crisis meeting is following the other: After launching a Coup d'état from above by sacking 3 state TS leaders in the last week, Frank Stronach is now already in Canada again (he can't stay in Austria for more than 70 days a year, because then he'd have to pay ALL his taxes here).

So, his "girl-for-everything" and designated TS parliamentary leader - Kathrin Nachbaur - is leading the meetings. The Carinthia TS is about to split from the federal party in a CDU/CSU-like model if Nachbaur cannot convince the pissed-off Carinthians to stay on board.



Also, the Salzburg and Lower Austrian state TS people (the Carinthians too) are severely pissed-off with the way Frank Stronach is doing business: He wants money back from them, 10 Mio. € in the next 10 years to be exact.

Also, the Vorarlberg TS is about to implode. Frank Stronach has basically fired the whole leadership in the state and they said they won't run in the 2014 Vorarlberg state election ...

http://derstandard.at/1379293538404/Team-Stronach-Vorarlberg-vor-Aufloesung

This is making my day way better after the glooming Nova Scotia election and the general situation...

[Zanas]

What are the odds of SPÖVPGreens right now ? Who is in favor and who's against ?

[Zanas]

What are the odds of SPÖVPGreens right now ? Who is in favor and who's against ?

Why would the Greens join that?

People do dumb things, that's why. All the time, pretty much. No but seriously, I know it's not necessarily the most probable one federally, but it exists at a few state levels, so why not ?

[Zanas]

The 8 big chapters that SPÖVP will mainly negotiate about in their coalition talks:

* Education/Universities
* Taxes/(Budget) Consolidation
* Future (which means Family policy, science/research)
* Pensions
* Europe
* Safety and Justice
* Administrative Reform

So nothing on the environment huh ? Meh...

[Zanas]

How is the seating plan designed ? I can kind of get why FPÖ would be historically sitting in the center, I also get why the Greens would be there too, but I frankly do not get TS and Neos sitting place. I know left-right spectrum has been quite lost for Austria for decades, but still, have you no decency ?

[Zanas]

When you say a general smoking ban, are you talking about plain just making tobacco illegal, or a general ban of smoking in public/public places ? I'm confused.

[Zanas]

How much of an electoral base could Neos theoretically build ? From what I can gather they mostly appeal to disgruntled ÖVP voters, and a bit of SPÖ and Green ones too. Could they, at least in a poll, reach close to the top 3, maybe to the expense of ÖVP ? Well, in this poll, it's already nearly what's happening...

[Zanas]

I'm sorry Tender but these really have nothing to do with Austrian elections or politics...

[Zanas]

For once I will fill Tender's seat and tell you about Gallup 1 March's poll for EP election :
FPÖ 23
SPÖ 22
ÖVP 22
Greens 14
Neos 13
Martin 2
Rekos 1

[Zanas]

You see, people should be free to be nazi, it's called freedom. Otherwise you are close-minded.

[Zanas]

The picture with the two top candidates with guns in a James Bond kind of pose is really really really really sh**tty journalism. Horrible. Elections are not a game for fukc's sake.  Responsibles should be shot with a Walther PPK.

[Zanas]

Is it me or did they already make the exact same incredibly stupid infography last summer ?

[Zanas]

A bit late on this one, but on the whole "send the police operations' pricetag to X or Y", guys, seriously... I get that you're upset, but you know that is not how the public service of peacekeeping actually works, and that it shouldn't be how it works as a matter of fact.

[Zanas]

Tomorrow, the next controversial figure is coming to Vienna: Vladimir Putin.

But contrary to Erdogan, who came only for a campaign event, Putin will come for an official state visit.

Nonetheless, the police will have to come out in force again to protect him and the planned massive counter protests ...

Which is exactly, well, their job...

And to conclude the thing about Erdogan earlier : if Austria was upset about his visit, well they shouldn't have let him enter the country at all. As simple as that.

[Zanas]

We all know that this is a decision aimed only at appeasing the general public while the government and police will obviously still keep on doing it secretly because, well, sometimes it really has to. Right ?

[Zanas]

Is he paving the way for Kurz then ? You just recently wondered what it would be like in the polls for the ÖVP to be led by Kurz instead of old Spindelegger.

And are there any political reasons to do it now ?

[Zanas]

They keep doing polls for a non-existing direct Chancellor vote. Is there serious projects to implement one ? Has it ever been discussed ? I would ask why they do it, but I sadly know the answer to that question too well...

[Zanas]

Sure, but that young soldier has to survive a hostile press, TV-debates,... If he appears as a harmless&brave boy with some helpless verbal radicalism, his protest-voters go to Stronach or KPÖ!

Once again. Not how this works. Sigh....

[Zanas]

We French have a gnome in the Élysée that we very much would like for you Austrians, ÖVPers or others, to come and steal... And you could keep him.

[Zanas]

So NEOS is basically the new LIF (meaning it will die out very quickly)?

I'm not sure it will die out so easily, it seems to occupy a genuine political space in the landscape.

Anyway, good for the Greens!

[Zanas]

These crosstabs show that only woman aged under 45 should be allowed to vote in Vorarlberg, as well as in Austria as a whole.

[Zanas]

In fact, with 47% the SPÖ could choose either ÖVP, FPÖ or Greens as their coalition partner.

With spoilt votes below the threshold, wouldn't they actually end up with an absolute majority with 47% ? Why would they enter a coalition in that case ?

[Zanas]

To give you an example of how small municipalities in Austria can be, here one municipality that will elect its council and mayor tomorrow:

Großhofen:
86 inhabitants
Council with 13(!) members, plus mayor - more than 15% of the village's population hold elected office!
Wiki

The shocking thing about this is that this municipality is not even the smallest one in Austria, there are loads of others with similar sizes or even fewer inhabitants - Gramais in Tirol has 54 inhabitants, Namlos (that municipality's name literally means "name-less"; that just as a sidenote ) has 85, Hinterhornbach has 90... And all of them have a full-functioning (and paid) council (around 10 council members, in NÖ often more), a mayor, a municipality secretary...

Ha, that's cute.

[Zanas]

* Only young men coming from Syria, Iraq, AfPak and Eritrea/Somalia - while women and children stay behind in these crappy places while the men get a "luxury lifestyle" here

Come on, Tender, you are an honest person. Even if you hypocritically put it between "quotes", no asylum seeker anywhere gets a "luxury lifestyle" whatsoever. What are you, FPÖ ? I get the objections you have, I may share some of them, but don't fall into that kind of rhetorics. Please.

[Zanas]

By and large, to whom went those almost 14% of Other votes in Carinthia ? Are those a kind of DVD-DVG thing like in France ? Or real unaffiliated independent candidates ?