Austrian Elections & Politics 2.0 (Presidential runoff re-vote: 4 Dec. 2016)

[Tender Branson]

Funny because now the debate here just got really ugly ...

VdB shows a poster of himself and dog and below that a picture of Hitler with his dog (apparently shared on Facebook by a FPÖ politician).

Hofer replies with Facebook comments from the Left, attacking him etc.

[Tender Branson]

Wow, something odd just happened.

Stenzel as attack dog for Hofer, attacking VdB as a Communist and accussed VdB's father of sympathising with the Nazis ?

WTF ?

[Tender Branson]

Stenzel absolutely hates VdB and vice versa.

Pictures of Hofer and VdB as 18-year olds are on the screen now and the moderator asks VdB how his political worldview was when he voted Communist as a young man (after Stalin butchered millions).

Another picture of a young Hofer appears and another one of Rene Schimanek, who was a neo-Nazi skinhead about 20 years ago and is now working in Hofer's office or something.

[Tender Branson]

Just minutes after Hofer called the US campaign "really dirty", the debate has turned into full-blown character assassination. VdB gets attacked from an FPÖ-affiliate as a Communist, that his father was a secret Nazi and that his wife was a professional leftist protester ...

[Tender Branson]

VdB attacks Hofer as misogynistic and that he wants women back into the kitchen.

Hofer replies that his wife works and his older daughter works and his younger daughter will eventually also work at some point.

[Tender Branson]

"What positive things can you say about the other after 10 months of campaigning ?"

VdB: "You are much better dressed now than 10 months ago."

[Tender Branson]

Now the representative post debate poll from OGM !

[Tender Branson]

OGM/PULS 4 poll for debate WINNER:

49% Hofer
41% VdB
10% Undecided

[Tender Branson]

OGM/PULS 4 poll for debate WINNER:

49% Hofer
41% VdB
10% Undecided

Hofer has now won the first 2 of the 4 debates.

Both by a 8-point margin.

[Ljube]

Even biased pollsters show Hofer winning all debates.

This is going to be a landslaide.

[Tender Branson]

Funny because now the debate here just got really ugly ...

VdB shows a poster of himself and dog and below that a picture of Hitler with his dog (apparently shared on Facebook by a FPÖ politician).

Hofer replies with Facebook comments from the Left, attacking him etc.

All kinds of weird posters on social media right now:



But the other side can do it as well:



Tweeted with "Make the Ostmark great again !":



Or, based on this:

VdB (Greens) had his official campaign kickoff event today (the 4th already) at the Vienna Marx Palace, in which he invoked "Lord of the Rings": Austria must not become an "Alpine Mordor" he said, with Hofer winning the Presidency first and then the FPÖ winning the federal election in 2017 or 2018, forming a far-right/conservative government. Or a so-called "Blue Republic", in which the FPÖ controls the government, the Presidency and the 1st parliamentary president. "We don't need extreme experiments", he said "I want an open, tolerant, peaceful, enlightened, successful Austria."

http://derstandard.at/2000047618396/Hofburgwahl-Van-der-Bellen-warnt-vor-Alpen-Mordor

[Tender Branson]

Norbert Hofer's closing ad ("Together we are Austria"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Xj3V2-MDk

[Tender Branson]

Alexander Van der Bellen's closing ad ("A plea to Austrians"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpeMCTOzIZk

[JA]

Austria simply can't vote for this right-wing nationalist fanatic. I know the Presidency is mostly ceremonial, but to have nationalism empowered like that? I don't want to see that happen to a great country like Austria.

[DavidB.]

Norbert Hofer's closing ad ("Together we are Austria"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Xj3V2-MDk

Wonder why YouTube autoplay shows a video by the Identitäre Bewegung immediately after this ad

[Tender Branson]

Norbert Hofer (FPÖ) has an "E-Mail Scandal" (just not as bad as Hillary's).

His campaign recently sent thousands of e-mails to Austrians living abroad, but who are registered to vote on Dec. 4

Contrary to domestic voters (who are all automatically registered to vote), Austrians who have their main residence abroad must register on their own (like Americans need to). More than 50.000 of the about 500.000 Austrians living abroad did so for the election.

The problem is that under the Austrian telecommunications law, it is not legal to send mass emails to more than 50 recipients (or something like that).

So, Hofer sent this letter to Austrian voters abroad and many complained to national newspapers about it.

It is unknown if the Hofer campaign will face legal problems, but if found guilty Hofer has to pay a 37.000€ fine for breaking the telecom law ...

http://diepresse.com/home/politik/bpwahl/5122918/Hofers-illegaler-Appell-ans-Ausland

[Xing]

Austria simply can't vote for this right-wing nationalist fanatic. I know the Presidency is mostly ceremonial, but to have nationalism empowered like that? I don't want to see that happen to a great country like Austria.

I want to think so, but I don't think any country is safe from nationalism, at this point. Please prove me wrong, Austria.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I just hope they're not trying to make Austria "great" again by re-annexing all of the former Habsburg territories.

[Tender Branson]

I just hope they're not trying to make Austria "great" again by re-annexing all of the former Habsburg territories.

A) who are these people ?

B) Austria's military power right now (0.5% of GDP) is comparable with the firebrigade of Rosenheim, Bavaria. So that re-annexing is unlikely.

[Middle-aged Europe]

A) who are these people ?

That's Christoph Leitl (ÖVP), president of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKÖ), speaking at a WKÖ meeting yesterday.

B) Austria's military power right now (0.5% of GDP) is comparable with the firebrigade of Rosenheim, Bavaria. So that re-annexing is unlikely.

For now, anyway.

[Tender Branson]

A) who are these people ?

That's Christoph Leitl (ÖVP), president of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKÖ), speaking at a WKÖ meeting yesterday.

Ah yeah, I looked at it again and it's indeed Leitl. While the use of Trump's slogan is pretty idiotic, it's not surprising that Leitl and the WKÖ would do it. Leitl once called Austria's economy "run down" and falling back internationally, so of course he wants to make our economy "great again". It's his job.

[Tender Branson]

More about Hofer's "email scandal":

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/austria-investigating-mass-emails-from-right-wing-candidate/2016/11/24/692b0b8e-b269-11e6-bc2d-19b3d759cfe7_story.html

[Middle-aged Europe]

#LockHimUp

[Tender Branson]

Interesting new development:

Because of the Constitutional Court ruling that invalidated the May runoff, the election officials will now count the postal ballots very carefully this time.

This means (depending on the total number of postal ballots returned) that postal ballot counting will likely continue until Tuesday after the election. Postal ballots are always counted the Monday after the election, so if the postal vote is lower than in May we could also get a final result on Monday evening. If the returns are similarly high, Tuesday is more likely.

I think it's fine, because counting quality should trump counting speed ...

[Tender Branson]

An 89-year old Holocaust survivor named Gertrude from Vienna recorded an emotional appeal to Austrians, which was so far seen by over 1.2 million people:



"The campaign of Norbert Hofer is generating the lowest out of people, not the most decent."

"This is probably my last election, I have not much time left - but the young people have and they should not think about what the candidates say, but what they are about to do as President. Think about everything that is possible."

When she was 16, she and her family was deported to the Auschwitz destruction camp, where her family was killed and she alone survived.

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/bp-wahl-holocaust-ueberlebende-warnt-vor-rechter-wahlkampf-rhetorik/232.371.627

http://blog.zeit.de/teilchen/2016/11/25/norbert-hofer-fpoe-holocaust-ueberlebende-warnung