Austrian Elections & Politics 3.0 - Parliamentary Election: Oct. 15

[Tender Branson]

In 45 minutes, the Kern (SPÖ) vs. Strolz (NEOS) debate on PULS 4 will start.

Maybe I'll get more of a clue for which party I should vote ...

https://www.puls4.com/live-551

[Tender Branson]

New Kurz-ad (roughly "This is what shaped me", or "This is what made me who I am today"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alqyq7xIKU0

[Tender Branson]

The FPÖ continues their funny ads. In their latest ("I'm going to say it for you"), Strache pops up for example during a dinner of a couple, in which the woman wants to break up with her boyfriend but cannot say it. Strache, suddenly at their table, then says: "She badly wants to break up with you."

The message is: Sometimes, people are uncomfortable saying politically incorrect things. Strache and the FPÖ do it for them.

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

[Tender Branson]

In 45 minutes, the Kern (SPÖ) vs. Strolz (NEOS) debate on PULS 4 will start.

Maybe I'll get more of a clue for which party I should vote ...

https://www.puls4.com/live-551

Woops.

SPÖ vs. Greens is the first debate right now - followed by SPÖ vs. NEOS

The SPÖ/Green debate is surprisingly high-quality so far. Kern is doing a great job. When asked if Vienna schools should not serve pork in school meals any longer*, Kern replied that healthy food of a big variety is what matters most - not if pork should be banned.

* In Vienna's elementary and middle schools, there are now more Muslim students than Christian students btw. There are now ca. 35% Muslim kids this school year vs. 34% Christian kids. The remaining kids are either Jewish, etc. or non-religious.

[Tender Branson]

In 45 minutes, the Kern (SPÖ) vs. Strolz (NEOS) debate on PULS 4 will start.

Maybe I'll get more of a clue for which party I should vote ...

https://www.puls4.com/live-551

Woops.

SPÖ vs. Greens is the first debate right now - followed by SPÖ vs. NEOS

The SPÖ/Green debate is surprisingly high-quality so far. Kern is doing a great job. When asked if Vienna schools should not serve pork in school meals any longer*, Kern replied that healthy food of a big variety is what matters most - not if pork should be banned.

* In Vienna's elementary and middle schools, there are now more Muslim students than Christian students btw. There are now ca. 35% Muslim kids this school year vs. 34% Christian kids. The remaining kids are either Jewish, etc. or non-religious.

Chancellor Kern beats Lunacek (Greens) by a 64-11 margin in the representative OGM debate poll (25% said neither).

[Tender Branson]

Today, the FPÖ vs. Green debate will take place during primetime on the public ORF.

But not between Strache and Lunacek, but between Norbert Hofer and Lunacek.

During the last duel between Strache and Lunacek on PULS 4 a week ago, both candidates literally wanted to strangle the other. This debate was extremely hateful and Strache now said he asked Norbert Hofer to participate in the ORF debate tonight, because he cannot stand Lunacek any longer ...

http://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/nationalratswahl/5283836/Hasszerfressen_Lunacek-und-Strache-im-Schlagabtausch

http://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/nationalratswahl/5285444/Strache-schickt-Hofer-zu-TVDuell-gegen-Lunacek

[Tender Branson]

I'll probably wait extra-long this time to vote and drop off my postal ballot ...

Postal voting is possible since yesterday and you can drop it off at a postal box until Oct. 14 - one day before the election (you can also vote in a precinct on election day with your postal ballot). On Saturday afternoon, all postal boxes in Austria will be cleared and the ballots will be delivered to the district election commissions for counting on Monday.

It is estimated that some 800.000-900.000 people will request a postal ballot. That's 13-14% of eligible voters. Postal voters usually have a high return-rate of 85-90% in federal elections, which is higher than the overall turnout (75-80%).

[DavidB.]

Are you going to write in Werner Faymann?

[Tender Branson]

Are you going to write in Werner Faymann?

Why would I do that ?!?!?

[Tender Branson]

For the first time, a session took place today in the interim parliament in the Hofburg (which is also the seat of the President):



Also: I got my postal ballot today.

[Tender Branson]

Niki Lauda, the Formula 1 World Champion, endorsed Kurz yesterday in a Facebook video:



http://derstandard.at/2000064545678/Niki-Lauda-unterstuetzt-Sebastian-Kurz

[Tender Branson]

85% (!) of first-time voters (those aged 16-20) say they are going to vote on Oct. 15, according to a new study.

http://derstandard.at/2000064604372/Erstwaehler-Studie-Junge-Frauen-sind-politisch-weniger-interessiert

That's up from 70% who said they will vote ahead of the 2013 election.

[Tender Branson]

Chancellor Kern's next poster campaign features ... kids:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The table shown is not Kern's, but Bruno Kreisky's.

[Tender Branson]

Big crowd also for the FPÖ in Innsbruck, the - usually Green - capital of Tyrol.

Their "Fairness Tour" campaign event was visited by 3000 people, just a slightly smaller crowd than the 5.000 during Kurz's "On the Move Tour".



The last time Chancellor Kern campaigned in Tyrol, he had a crowd of just 500 people.

[Tender Branson]

2 new polls today, all showing the same results as those before ...

ÖVP at 33, SPÖ and FPÖ tied at 24-25 and the small parties with 5% each.

Either there's poll herding going on and they will end up wrong or the race simply has stabilized by now. Polls before 2013 also looked the same - but they were within 1% of the actual party results.

[Tender Branson]

Today:

The official Kurz/ÖVP national campaign kickoff event in the Vienna "Stadthalle", which has a capacity of 16.000 people. More than 10.000 people are expected, maybe it will even be sold out.

Event starts at 3pm.

[Tender Branson]

Today:

The official Kurz/ÖVP national campaign kickoff event in the Vienna "Stadthalle", which has a capacity of 16.000 people. More than 10.000 people are expected, maybe it will even be sold out.

Event starts at 3pm.

Kurz-speech now live:

https://secure.sebastian-kurz.at/auftakt/

Biggest crowd I have ever seen for an Austrian political event.

[Tender Branson]

Today:

The official Kurz/ÖVP national campaign kickoff event in the Vienna "Stadthalle", which has a capacity of 16.000 people. More than 10.000 people are expected, maybe it will even be sold out.

Event starts at 3pm.

Kurz-speech now live:

https://secure.sebastian-kurz.at/auftakt/

Biggest crowd I have ever seen for an Austrian political event.

I think this is the first time ever here that a campaign launch is held DNC or RNC style.

Kurz begins his speech by thanking his parents.

Before the speech there was a new Kurz intro video showing him climbing a mountain.

[Tender Branson]

Amazing speech by Kurz.

I guess he's aiming for 40%.

[Tender Branson]

Pictures from the national Kurz/ÖVP campaign launch in Vienna, with 16.000 visitors:

[DavidB.]

I think I like Kurz politically (won't say ideologically because I doubt the guy has one), but he does seem to suffer from Macron syndrome: that third picture, ffs...

[Tender Branson]

I think I like Kurz politically (won't say ideologically because I doubt the guy has one), but he does seem to suffer from Macron syndrome: that third picture, ffs...

To me, Kurz is a young, dynamic, hardcore law-and-order, tax-cutting, pro-business, anti-debt, pro-family and pro-European Conservative.

[Tender Branson]

It seems OGM is now doing a weekly poll for the "Kurier":



Also: Tonight, the only "elephant" debate will take place on PULS 4 - with all 6 main candidates. Contrary to the public ORF, PULS 4 also invited Peter Pilz to the discussion.

[Tender Branson]

If Kurz were a literal fascist like Erdogan, pictures like these would give me some shivers ...





https://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastian_kurz/albums/72157686472832830

[Tender Branson]

This is Kurz's mountain-climbing intro-video from yesterdays campaign launch:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjN_HFn4_-I

For English subtitles, click on "German" and then "automatically translate" and "English".