Austrian Elections & Politics 5.0 (Burgenland state election - January 26)

[Tender Branson]

AdP (Alliance of Patriots, = BZÖ) wanted Identitarian Movement leader Martin Sellner as their frontrunner, but he declined.

He will still support them on his Instagram page though, so that they can get enough signatures to be on the ballot.

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/bzoe-wollte-identitaeren-chef-sellner-als-spitzenkandidaten/400555169

[Tender Branson]

Austria. Summer 2019.



"Underwear creates political firestorm between ÖVP and SPÖ."

[President Johnson]

Austria. Summer 2019.



"Underwear creates political firestorm between ÖVP and SPÖ."

This seems so ridiculous, the media should actually refuse to report on such non-issues. Come on.

[DavidB.]

AdP (Alliance of Patriots, = BZÖ) wanted Identitarian Movement leader Martin Sellner as their frontrunner, but he declined.

He will still support them on his Instagram page though, so that they can get enough signatures to be on the ballot.

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/bzoe-wollte-identitaeren-chef-sellner-als-spitzenkandidaten/400555169

Isn't BZÖ supposed to be more moderate than the FPÖ? What happened?

[Tender Branson]

AdP (Alliance of Patriots, = BZÖ) wanted Identitarian Movement leader Martin Sellner as their frontrunner, but he declined.

He will still support them on his Instagram page though, so that they can get enough signatures to be on the ballot.

https://kurier.at/politik/inland/bzoe-wollte-identitaeren-chef-sellner-als-spitzenkandidaten/400555169

Isn't BZÖ supposed to be more moderate than the FPÖ? What happened?

Reading their current election platform, it seems they are about where the FPÖ is on the main issues, except on the unconditional basic income for every Austrian citizen, worth 2.500€ per month, which they support and the FPÖ of course not. This is pretty leftist on part of the BZÖ and nobody knows how this could be financed, considering costs of 222 Bio. € per year with a GDP of 400 Bio. €

But I guess the BZÖ was just looking for some attention with Sellner, as it is their last attempt to get onto a ballot.

[Tender Branson]

New Ö24 poll:

https://mobile.twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1152547294060916737

[Tender Branson]

This is pretty bad for the SPÖ:

One of their city council members in Styria was sentenced for heavily beating up his 4-year old stepson with bruises and blood all over his face.

After the sentence he remained in office (!), but the SPÖ-mayor asked him to resign (which he now did).



https://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/politik/Kindesmisshandlung-Skandal-um-SPOe-Politiker/389267217

Poor boy.

[Tender Branson]

The new poll also has an age breakdown which is stunning (young voters do not like ÖVP+FPÖ, while older voters really love Kurz and the ÖVP. The FPÖ is mostly backed by working-age people, who are not studying any longer or who are not retired yet):

[Tender Branson]

A new poll for the 2020 Vienna state election shows that an FPÖ led by Strache would do 2% better (24%) than an FPÖ led by Dominik Nepp (22%). About 8/10 FPÖ-voters want Strache to return as lead candidate for the 2020 election:

[xelas81]

The new poll also has an age breakdown which is stunning (young voters do not like ÖVP+FPÖ, while older voters really love Kurz and the ÖVP. The FPÖ is mostly backed by working-age people, who are not studying any longer or who are not retired yet):

Are 70+ voters included part of 60-69 or not shown at all?

[Tender Branson]

Are 70+ voters included part of 60-69 or not shown at all?

I think not shown at all and not included. Either they were not polled (which would be strange), or they simply didn't show it on their chart. They also missed the state of Vorarlberg in one of their other charts.

[Tender Branson]

Own-goal for the ÖVP:

Austria probes ex-Chancellor Kurz's staff over shredding evidence

(AFP)

Austrian prosecutors are probing a staffer of former chancellor Sebastian Kurz on suspicion of shredding evidence, possibly linked to the scandal that brought down the government in May, media reports and an official said over the weekend.

The probe could hurt Kurz and his conservative People's Party (OeVP), which is so far tipped to come out strongest again in September elections despite the scandal that has since become known as "Ibiza-gate".

(...)

In a new twist, prosecutors are now also investigating a staffer of Kurz's team for shredding a hard disk on May 23, days after the scandal broke and just before a successful no-confidence vote against the chancellor's government.

The staffer, who has not been named by Austrian media, is under suspicion of destroying evidence, according to the Kurier daily on Saturday.

The shredding company informed police after the staffer failed to pay the 76-euro ($85) bill and could not be contacted as he had given a fake name.

Austrian lawmakers, not from Kurz's People's Party (OeVP), have called for a full investigation.

(...)

The OeVP said it was normal to destroy personal data and non-official documents before a change in government, adding the staffer did not have access to any sensitive information.

"This is a completely normal procedure," an OeVP spokesman told AFP on Sunday.

https://www.france24.com/en/20190721-austria-probes-ex-leaders-staff-over-shredding-evidence

[Tender Branson]

Juicy Austrian burger ad rankles Salvini: Italian deputy PM not lovin’ it.

A burger ad placed in Austria by McDonald's has drawn strong criticism from Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for associating Italians with the mafia.

When Salvini took his case to Twitter, however, he accidentally confused Austria with Germany.

McDonald's has been running ads in Austria as part of its campaign, "Italian summer." The ads, distributed online and on billboards, comes with a slogan "for real mampfiosi." The term is a play on words combining mafiosi with the colloquial German verb mampfen, or "to munch."

(...)

"So all Italians are mafiosi?" Salvini wrote on Twitter on Sunday, attaching a photo. He added it was "sad" that it came from Germany, confusing Austria with its northern neighbor.

https://www.politico.eu/article/juicy-austrian-burger-ad-rankles-salvini

[Tender Branson]

I have already tried several of the "Italian Summer" burgers and they are very tasty. Especially the new Chicken Amore.

Salvini should stop being so politically correct. "Munchiosi" is not a racist anti-Italian term.

At least he mixed up Austria and Germany and now everyone thinks the Germans are the "bad guys".

[Senator Incitatus]

[President Johnson]

He's doing what all right populists do: Play the victim of an evil establishment. Unfortunately, enough people have difficulty to realize these so-called "men of the people" are fraudulent disrupters who will hardly solve any problem.

[President Johnson]

The entire European Youth seems wild about the Green Parties. It's really a hype.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

As an Italian, grow a pair you testa di cazzo.

[Senator Incitatus]

Cynical part of me says this is an attempt to expand Lega's support in the South.

[Tender Branson]

The entire European Youth seems wild about the Green Parties. It's really a hype.

Yeah, the Greens are in good shape.

PS: they also announced yesterday that they have collected the 2.600 signatures to be on the ballot. They collected even a lot more than that: 11.000 signatures ... and there are still 2 weeks to go.

https://orf.at/stories/3131205

[DavidB.]

This is not news.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

This is not news.

everything that happens in Austria is news

[Tender Branson]

Own-goal for the ÖVP:

Austria probes ex-Chancellor Kurz's staff over shredding evidence

ÖVP's "Shredder-Gate" (Operation Reisswolf) is getting worse and worse ...

Turns out that Kurz's social media guy not only illegally shreddered one harddisk from the Chancellery, but 5 of them.

And not only that:

The CEO of the shredding company (who called the police and state corruption prosecuction after the shredding process) gave a very interesting interview to the investigating media.

He told journalists the following, after also handing them over CCTV material from their shredding facility: Kurz's social media guy walked into the company and was extremely nervous already and demanded 5 harddisks being destroyed. He wanted to be present during the destruction process. He also wanted the harddisks to be destroyed 3 times in a row. He demanded that the remains are filled into a bag, which he took with him. He used a fake name and fake address (but his correct cell phone number) and didn't pay the 80€ of the destruction process. The company CEO said that in 25 years of company history, there has never been a case where a customer wanted to be present during the destruction process and the disks destroyed 3 times ...

Kurz's guy destroyed the harddisks several days after Ibiza-Gate became known and a few days before Kurz was impeached by parliament.

Dreimal geschreddert

Der Falter beschreibt den Vorgang unter Berufung auf Mitarbeiter der Firma Reisswolf im Detail: Arno M., der im Kanzleramt für den Social-Media-Auftritt von Kurz zuständig war, gab das Schreddern unter falschem Namen in Auftrag, nämlich "Walter Maisinger" – und legte eigens für die Festplattenvernichtung sogar eine E-Mail-Adresse auf diesen Namen an. Laut den Reisswolf-Mitarbeitern habe er extrem nervös gewirkt. Nach dem Schreddern der Festplatten habe er das, was noch übrig blieb, noch einmal durch den Reißwolf laufen lassen, bis am Ende nur noch Staub durchrieselte. Einmal hätte gereicht, um die Datenträger nachdrücklich zu vernichten. Danach bestand M. auch noch darauf, den Staubüberrest mitzunehmen, heißt es.

Da der Kurz-Mitarbeiter die läppische Rechnung von 76,45 Euro trotz mehrerer Mahnungen nicht bezahlte, erstattete die Firma eine Betrugsanzeige. Der Mann war leicht auszuforschen: Er hatte seine richtige Telefonnummer angegeben. Mittlerweile waren aber auch die Mitarbeiter von Reisswolf auf M. alias Maisinger gestoßen: Sie identifizierten ihn als jenen Mann, der bei der im Fernsehen übertragenen Abschiedsrede von Sebastian Kurz nach dessen Absetzung durch das Parlament im Springer-Schlössl der Parteiakademie links hinter ihm stand.

Die Betrugsanzeige wanderte über die Korruptionsstaatsanwaltschaft zur Sonderkommission Ibiza der Polizei: Der Zeitpunkt der Datenvernichtung legte einen Zusammenhang mit der Publikation des Ibiza-Videos nahe. Am 23. 5. wurde M. mit den Festplatten bei der Firma Reisswolf vorstellig. Eine knappe Woche davor, am 17. Mai, hatten Süddeutsche Zeitung und Spiegel das Ibiza-Video mit Heinz-Christian Strache und Johann Gudenus veröffentlicht. Vier Tage danach, am 27. Mai, geht der Misstrauensantrag gegen Kurz als Kanzler im Parlament durch.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000106611732/die-reisswolf-affaere-bringt-kurz-unter-druck

[Tender Branson]

ÖVP drops by 1% after "Shredder-Gate" (new Ö24 poll, July 18-24):

36% ÖVP (-1)
22% SPÖ
20% FPÖ (+1)
12% Greens
  7% NEOS
  1% NOW
  2% Others

https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20190725_OTS0133/oesterreich-oevp-verliert-in-1-umfrage-nach-schredder-affaere

[Tender Branson]

The small, far-left party Wandel (= Change) has enough signatures to be on the ballot in the September elections.

Other small parties have not released numbers so far, but there’s still time left until next Friday. Collecting signatures on the street from voters is pretty hard this time (summer vacation and 35 degrees heat). You have to convince these people to go to their municipal office (during office hours) to stamp and sign the petition for such a small party and then mail it back.