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

[Tender Branson]

It's poster destruction season again:



Instead of "political power needs control."

it now says:

"Austria does not need Nazis."

[Omega21]

It's poster destruction season again:



Instead of "political power needs control."

it now says:

"Austria does not need Nazis."

What kind of scum does this?

I was in Wien until today, during those 15 days i saw about 30 vandalised Hofer posters, 0 vandalised VdB posters.

Seems like the extreme Left is more full of hate than the Right.

Also saw things like "communist youth of Austria" with stickers like Eat the reach, and the anti Fa group with posters of people shi*ing on Hofers picture in the Toilet..

[Tender Branson]

That is not surprising.

Election posters always get vandalized and especially those of the FPÖ.

[Tender Branson]

Norbert Hofer (FPÖ) will travel to Prague next week and meet with Czech President Milos Zeman (who said he meets with Hofer, because "he doesn't like the Greens").

[Tender Branson]

Major CEO's of big Austrian companies (most of them from the ÖVP and NEOS) are launching a campaign against Hofer and the FPÖ's "Auxit" fantasies:



The ad above will apear in major newspapers in the next weeks.

It reads:

"If Hofer comes. Auxit comes. Unemployment comes. No to Auxit ! *Every 2nd job in Austria depends on export, 70% of our exports go into the EU."

They also have a new anti-Hofer attack ad out:

https://www.facebook.com/neinzumoexit/videos/502841973248087/

[BigSkyBob]

It's poster destruction season again:

(defaced sign redacted)

Instead of "political power needs control."

it now says:

It doesn't matter what it now says. The defacement of the campaign sign was an attack the right of all peoples to have free and fair elections. Part-and-parcel of fair elections is the right of the candidates to present information to the voters. Defacing campaign signs, stealing lawn signs, and overt censorship differ merely by degree, not kind. It was a criminal act.

A large number of the posters here do not speak German. The defacement was fundamentally little more than an swastika followed by a series of hieroglyphs before you gave the criminal an English voice.

That was really disgraceful.

[rob in cal]

   Assuming some of those anti-Hofer stickers that Omega saw said "eat the rich" that would be ironic since Hofer would have won the first round of the election had it not been for the vote of the wealthy.  Also ironic is the fact that leftist groups are so strongly against the candidate who is so strongly supported by the blue collar working class. I guess its not the mid 20th century anymore.

[Omega21]

  Assuming some of those anti-Hofer stickers that Omega saw said "eat the rich" that would be ironic since Hofer would have won the first round of the election had it not been for the vote of the wealthy.  Also ironic is the fact that leftist groups are so strongly against the candidate who is so strongly supported by the blue collar working class. I guess its not the mid 20th century anymore.

Those communist stickers are not really made for the sole purpose of defacing him, it's just that they stick it on his Face..

The Extreme Left in Austria is almost always <30 years old, does not have a good job (or any)(exceptions are available), is European (mostly), and will turn hostile if you even mention that you like any kind of Right wing party.
Most of them vote Green or SPO, and I would say they account for about 3% of the 12% vote the Greens have.

Basically they think they are good people because they are ultra liberal and write things like "No Man is illegal" all over underpasses ( I have seen this a lot in Wien). Strange, I'm a student in Austria and still need an ID to cross the border or I would be arrested, guess that's meant for people coming from the Middle East, as they can't be illegal...

They also have 0 knowledge of economics, and think that giving out free money is sustainable when the hard working Austrians leave the work force. Because you know, Kern and Haupl have printing machines in their basement.

And that i could gather just by being in Austria for a relatively short amount of time.

I hope I don't get another Post ban because of this, as I am talking about defacement of Election posters.

[Tender Branson]

Van der Bellen posters also get destroyed:



"Austrian Traitor & Sick Brain"



"Judas"



"Motherfu**er / Wanker"

[reciprocity]

   Assuming some of those anti-Hofer stickers that Omega saw said "eat the rich" that would be ironic since Hofer would have won the first round of the election had it not been for the vote of the wealthy.  Also ironic is the fact that leftist groups are so strongly against the candidate who is so strongly supported by the blue collar working class. I guess its not the mid 20th century anymore.

I was literally just thinking that. It seems a lot of the ''radical left'' in Germany/Austria have a more positive view of the establishment (and the centre-left) in general. The pie in the face to Sahra Wagenkrecht by the Antifa activist was strange.

[Tender Branson]

2 new presidential polls today !

"Unique Research" for "Heute" newspaper (n=800, Sept. 1-7)

51% VdB
49% Hofer

Projection is based on the 79% of "certain and very likely voters" (69% certain, 10% very likely).

http://www.heute.at/news/politik/Hofburg-Van-der-Bellen-derzeit-knapp-vor-Hofer;art23660,1340592

http://www.heute.at/storage/med/pdf/89280_Praesentation_Heute_Sept.16_BP_Wahl.pdf

"Gallup" for "Ö24" newspaper (n=600, Sept. 7-8)



86% are likely voters (71% certain, 15% very likely).

http://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Umfrage-VdB-holt-auf/250641806

[Tender Branson]

If we average all 3 September polls so far, it's exactly 50-50 !

This is going down the wire again ...

[Tender Branson]

The Interior Ministry is thinking about postponing the election now because of disintegrating postal ballots ...

Decision next week.

[Diouf]

First as tragedy, then as farce...

[Tender Branson]

"Glue-Gate" is getting much worse every day ...

There have been cases now in which the postal ballots were filled out, signed and a few days later they fell apart when people brought them to the post office.

The Interior Ministry hotline people advised people with disintegrating ballots to "fix" them by using their own glue (which is illegal).

There is now an investigation within the Ministry and charges have been filed against the hotline workers.

Later more.

[reciprocity]

WHY! Why does the polling have to be so tight? It seems that way with every two-way election/ref this year.

[DavidB.]

Lol Austria...

[Tender Branson]

Lol Austria...

Yeah ...

I wonder if the ministry finds a solution or not.

I will probably vote at my precinct now, the first time in 10 or so years ...

Not interested in a disintegrating postal ballot ...

[Omega21]

22 September 2026 (57th Presidential runoff):

Today VdB has died, Hofer is the new president by default...

Seriously, why don't they just allow postal voting for absentees and people who are not fit to go to the precinct..

At least for now..

In other news,

The Green youth has released pictures of them posing with posters saying

Austria is fiction
Borders are overcome (thing of the past)

This is how I understood it, so if its wrong Tender can correct my mistake.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/junge-gruene/sets/72157631878917186/

I am astonished at how little knowledge of the real world these people have, guess 70 years of prosperity and a high living standard makes them think everyone in the world is Polite, Educated and brought by Western standards..

[Tender Branson]

22 September 2026 (57th Presidential runoff):

Today VdB has died, Hofer is the new president by default...

Seriously, why don't they just allow postal voting for absentees and people who are not fit to go to the precinct..

At least for now..

In other news,

The Green youth has released pictures of them posing with posters saying

Austria is fiction
Borders are overcome (thing of the past)

This is how I understood it, so if its wrong Tender can correct my mistake.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/junge-gruene/sets/72157631878917186/

I am astonished at how little knowledge of the real world these people have, guess 70 years of prosperity and a high living standard makes them think everyone in the world is Polite, Educated and brought by Western standards..

That's what Hofer and the FPÖ want now: suspend postal voting for the re-vote.

But that's impossible, because many people have already requested absentee ballots and sent them back.

They need to find another solution to fix "glue-gate" by next week ...

PS:

Apparently, they have now found the reason why some absentee ballots are falling apart: the heat. Many absentee ballots have been transported in trucks and it was very hot inside. Maybe the printing company also used older glue or glue of bad quality.

[aross]

Yeah.

Like I said, joke country.

[Omega21]

Yeah.

Like I said, joke country.

"Joke country" with one of the highest standards of living in the world.

Update:

Seems that the Elections will be moved to later in the year.

[rob in cal]

   Too bad if in fact the election is further postponed because of the glue crisis.  At least we'll have the Hungarian referendum to get excited about on Oct. 2.
 

[ag]

I am astonished at how little knowledge of the real world these people have, guess 70 years of prosperity and a high living standard makes them think everyone in the world is Polite, Educated and brought by Western standards..

Well, they certainly have never met you.

This is, actually, a very serious point. For 70 years Europe (and the West in general) had the immunity - after the horror of the last War, that generation did not need to learn history to know why liberalism is important. That generation is gone, and it turns out the immunity was temporary. Alas, given the trends it is quite likely the new innoculation will be happening spontaneously pretty soon. Every vote for Hofer and the like is a vote for a major European war. I am afraid, those kids - nor the rest of us - will have a chance to enjoy peace and prospertiy much longer.

[DavidB.]

Why the  do you even need postal votes? If people are too lazy to vote IRL then that's no big loss.