2009 State and European Parliament Elections in Austria

[Senator Hans-im-Glück]

BZÖ wants to abolish the post of Austrian President alltogether, calling it unnecessary and something that a Chancellor could do as well ...

The BZÖ says many stupid things, but here they are right. In Germany it's the same. Nobody can explain me why we must have a Federal President. He have nearly nothing to decide. This money we can we use for better things.

[Хahar]

Steger is still associated with the FPÖ? How old is he now?

[Tender Branson]

Steger is still associated with the FPÖ? How old is he now?

How do you know Steger ?

BTW, he's 65 now. I was somehow shocked that Strache would consider the "liberal" Steger, who was axed by Jörg Haider in the 1986 FPÖ leadership election, as a Presidential candidate for the FPÖ. I'd think Barbara Rosenkranz (housewife with 10 children of Germanic names and married to a Nazi) would be far better fitting for them ...

[Tender Branson]

BZÖ wants to abolish the post of Austrian President alltogether, calling it unnecessary and something that a Chancellor could do as well ...

The BZÖ says many stupid things, but here they are right. In Germany it's the same. Nobody can explain me why we must have a Federal President. He have nearly nothing to decide. This money we can we use for better things.

True, a chancellor could certainly do this stuff too, but I favor keeping it only for the fancy election maps I can create afterwards. And for checks and balances ...

[Tender Branson]

Talking about Austrian Presidential Election Maps. Here's one for the 1992 election between Thomas Klestil (ÖVP) and Rudolf Streicher (SPÖ). Klestil won with 56.9% to 43.1%:



Compared with Heinz Fischer (SPÖ - 52.4%) vs. Benita Ferrero-Waldner (ÖVP - 47.6%) in 2004:



Next I'll do the 1986 election between Kurt Waldheim (ÖVP - 53.9%) and Kurt Steyrer (SPÖ - 46.1%)

The 1996-Klestil-landslide would probably produce a very boring map ...

[Jarl]

Why ost-tirol is so utterly övp.

[Tender Branson]

Why ost-tirol is so utterly övp.

Good question. It is an isolated mountainous county with few people and low purchasing power and high unemployment. But so is my county (which is just north to East-Tyrol, just with low unemployment and higher purchasing power) Normally conservative counties tend to have low unemployment but East-Tyrol is crazy. Some towns there only have 100 inhabitants and they are voting with 95% for ÖVP/FPÖ and BZÖ ...

[Lewis Trondheim the Amazing Bouncing Ferret]

How much tourism is there in Osttirol?

[Tender Branson]

How much tourism is there in Osttirol?

It's not bad ...

Osttirol is the 12th-biggest "Tourismusverband" in Tyrol (out of 36) with roughly 900.000 overnight stays in the 2008/09 winter season and roughly 165.000 arrivals.

The biggest tourism region in Tyrol this season was Ötztal with 2.540.000 stays, followed by Ischgl with 2.140.000 stays.

Interestingly, Osttirol had the biggest jump in arrivals (+11%) this season compared with the last.

http://www.tirol.gv.at/themen/zahlen-und-fakten/statistik/tourismusverband

[Jarl]

It is leading forestry area of Austria IIRC

[Tender Branson]

It is leading forestry area of Austria IIRC

Yeah.

The whole county is roughly looking like this:

[Хahar]

Steger is still associated with the FPÖ? How old is he now?

How do you know Steger ?

BTW, he's 65 now. I was somehow shocked that Strache would consider the "liberal" Steger, who was axed by Jörg Haider in the 1986 FPÖ leadership election, as a Presidential candidate for the FPÖ. I'd think Barbara Rosenkranz (housewife with 10 children of Germanic names and married to a Nazi) would be far better fitting for them ...

I only know him as the one Haider axed (and, I suppose, the last left-liberal left in the FPÖ).

[Tender Branson]

Meanwhile Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP-leader in Salzburg) has backed a Pröll candidacy too after Styrian ÖVP-leader Schützenhöfer was the first to voice his support. Josef Pühringer (ÖVP-governor in Upper Austria) is now also backing Pröll.

Chancellor Faymann (SPÖ) and Vienna Mayor Häupl (SPÖ) have already said they will strongly back President Fischer if he decides to run. He'll probably declare his re-election campaign on June 5 in "Meet the Press", earlier than was thought before.

[Tender Branson]

Also, Burgenland Governor Hans Niessl (SPÖ) for Fischer's re-election.

Burgenland ÖVP leader Franz Steindl says Pröll is an astonishing personality, but the discussion about the ÖVP candidate is too early.

In Upper Austria, SPÖ-leader Erich Haider (not related with Jörg Haider) has endorsed Fischer for a second term.

Hans Dichand, owner of the tabloid Kronen Zeitung and read by 3 Million Austrians each day, has endorsed Erwin Pröll for President. Normally the Krone is running a strong SPÖ bias.

[Tender Branson]

Interesting stuff:

I created this map of the 1986 Austrian Presidential Election between Kurt Waldheim (ÖVP) and Kurt Steyrer (SPÖ). Waldheim won the election by 53.9 to 46.1, but notice how Carinthia trended away from the SPÖ between 1986 and 2004.

For example, Steyrer got 55.9% in the Villach suburbs (Villach-Land), while Heinz Fischer (SPÖ) got only 51.4% there in 2004, despite winning Austria with 52.4% of the vote.

I'll probably do the first ever trend-map that has been created for Austrian Presidential elections later (1986 vs. 2004, maybe 1992 vs. 2004 too) ...



6 blue Waldheim shades from 50-80% (5% each)
4 red Steyrer shades from 50-70% (5% each)