🇦🇹 Austrian Elections & Politics 6.0 - Upper Austria election: 26 Sept. 2021

[Tender Branson]

Could Strache be prohibited from taking part in the Vienna election on Oct. 11 ?

Vienna's 3rd district election commission has decided in a 6-3 vote that H.C. Strache is allowed to run in the Oct. 11 Vienna state election and that he has his main residency in the district and not in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria.

It is expected that Vienna's main election commission will now also OK the district decision and it will go to the Vienna administrative court.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000119415668/behoerde-entscheidet-strache-darf-in-wien-kandidieren

Very bad decision in my opinion.

Strache clearly does NOT have his main residence in Vienna. But it seems the SPÖ and the other parties in the district election commission see a Strache candidacy as a good chance to take votes away from the FPÖ. Which is of course true. But you cannot allow someone like Strache to run, just to hurt another party if it's pretty clear that he's no longer a resident of Vienna.

[Tender Branson]

Could Strache be prohibited from taking part in the Vienna election on Oct. 11 ?

Vienna's 3rd district election commission has decided in a 6-3 vote that H.C. Strache is allowed to run in the Oct. 11 Vienna state election and that he has his main residency in the district and not in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria.

It is expected that Vienna's main election commission will now also OK the district decision and it will go to the Vienna administrative court.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000119415668/behoerde-entscheidet-strache-darf-in-wien-kandidieren

Very bad decision in my opinion.

Strache clearly does NOT have his main residence in Vienna. But it seems the SPÖ and the other parties in the district election commission see a Strache candidacy as a good chance to take votes away from the FPÖ. Which is of course true. But you cannot allow someone like Strache to run, just to hurt another party if it's pretty clear that he's no longer a resident of Vienna.

The 6-3 vote in favour of Strache was 4x SPÖ, 1x Greens and 1x ÖVP in favour and 3x FPÖ against.

The 9 members of the district election commission where Strache was granted his main residence is made up of all parties, roughly representing the last district election result from 2015.

According to the Commission there, they have investigated all possible facts (they interviewed Strache personally, neighbours, etc.) and came to the conclusion that "while Strache might have lived for a longer period in Lower Austria with his wife and child after his marriage, he still has his main residence in Vienna-03."

The small leftist party Wandel (Change) has told the "Standard" they will appeal the ruling of the Landstraße election commission at the Vienna Administrative Court soon. The Court then has 5 days starting after receipt of the complaint to issue a ruling.

Meanwhile, the FPÖ (party leader Hofer) said that they will accept whatever ruling Vienna or the Court there will issue and that they will not challenge the Vienna state election in Court over Strache's residency issue like they did after the 2016 Presidential election. They expect the small leftist party Wandel to challenge the election in court anyway if Strache is given the green light by the Vienna court too.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000119438277/wieso-der-wahl-wiener-bei-der-wien-wahl-kandidieren-kann

[Tender Branson]

Could Strache be prohibited from taking part in the Vienna election on Oct. 11 ?

Vienna's 3rd district election commission has decided in a 6-3 vote that H.C. Strache is allowed to run in the Oct. 11 Vienna state election and that he has his main residency in the district and not in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria.

It is expected that Vienna's main election commission will now also OK the district decision and it will go to the Vienna administrative court.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000119415668/behoerde-entscheidet-strache-darf-in-wien-kandidieren

Very bad decision in my opinion.

Strache clearly does NOT have his main residence in Vienna. But it seems the SPÖ and the other parties in the district election commission see a Strache candidacy as a good chance to take votes away from the FPÖ. Which is of course true. But you cannot allow someone like Strache to run, just to hurt another party if it's pretty clear that he's no longer a resident of Vienna.

The 6-3 vote in favour of Strache was 4x SPÖ, 1x Greens and 1x ÖVP in favour and 3x FPÖ against.

The 9 members of the district election commission where Strache was granted his main residence is made up of all parties, roughly representing the last district election result from 2015.

According to the Commission there, they have investigated all possible facts (they interviewed Strache personally, neighbours, etc.) and came to the conclusion that "while Strache might have lived for a longer period in Lower Austria with his wife and child after his marriage, he still has his main residence in Vienna-03."

The small leftist party Wandel (Change) has told the "Standard" they will appeal the ruling of the Landstraße election commission at the Vienna Administrative Court soon. The Court then has 5 days starting after receipt of the complaint to issue a ruling.

Meanwhile, the FPÖ (party leader Hofer) said that they will accept whatever ruling Vienna or the Court there will issue and that they will not challenge the Vienna state election in Court over Strache's residency issue like they did after the 2016 Presidential election. They expect the small leftist party Wandel to challenge the election in court anyway if Strache is given the green light by the Vienna court too.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000119438277/wieso-der-wahl-wiener-bei-der-wien-wahl-kandidieren-kann

There were actually 2 appeals filed against Strache at the Vienna Administrative Court.

One of the cases was decided a few hours ago, in favour of Strache.

The Court upheld the decision of Vienna’s 3rd district election commission which allowed Strache to run.

The second challenge will be decided tomorrow.

If this also results in favour of Strache, he has cleared all hurdles and the election can only be challenged after it was held at the Austrian Constitutionial Court.

https://kurier.at/chronik/wien/strache-wohnsitz-gericht-gibt-bezirkswahlbehoerde-recht/401006309

[Tender Branson]

Strache officially on the ballot:

https://wien.orf.at/stories/3063364

The Vienna Administrative Court has just ruled in favour of Strache in the 2nd appeals case.

[Tender Branson]

Interesting development:

Liberal NEOS-leader of Vienna, Christoph Wiederkehr, has announced he's open to a coalition with the SPÖ, but ruled out a coalition with the ÖVP.

https://kurier.at/chronik/wien/neos-spitzenkandidat-wiederkehr-zu-koalition-mit-spoe-bereit/401006888

Wiederkehr is a political newcomer with very low name-recognition, so his strategy is a bit tricky.

[Tender Branson]

STATISTICS Austria released demographic data for the first half of 2020:

Births decreased by 1.5% compared to Jan-June 2019.

Deaths increased by 0.5% compared to Jan-June 2019.

Link, by month

Link, by state and district

Without the 700 COVID-deaths in the first half of 2020, the overal number of deaths would have gone down by 1.5% as well, just like births.

The Austrian population increased by 14.000 in the first half of 2020, which was ca. the same amount as in the first half of 2019 when it increased by 13.600 people.

Link (quarterly population)

Surprisingly, the population growth in Q2 - during the lockdown - did not result in lower population growth ...

[Tender Branson]

New Vienna poll by OGM for the "Krone" newspaper (Aug. 18-20):



Very stable picture, but this month turnout is projected at 72% - up from 68% in their July poll - but down from the pretty high 75% during the polarizing 2015 election.

Still, 72% would be much higher than the 60-70% turnouts before the 2015 election - which brought many additional left-wingers and migration-critical right-wingers to the polls.

The SPÖ has risen from 36% in an early-March poll to 39% now (and I expect them to get 40-45% eventually), while the ÖVP has lost 4% since early March.

The FPÖ seems to be consolidating support as well, reaching 10%+ in several polls now, at the expense of ÖVP and THC.

I think the ÖVP will actually struggle to get past the 20% mark in the election (the City-ÖVP is very weak and Blümel is not the best candidate). The Greens could also be too high with 16%. I think 14-15% is more likely.

Strache is the big unknown: now that he's officially on the ballot, he has already started to portray himself as a victim of the media and corrupt elites who want to "take him out". 15% of voters in Vienna still say that Strache is "potentially electable" for them after all that happened, but I don't think he'll get much more than 3-5% in the end.

https://www.krone.at/2215907

[Tender Branson]

The Vienna-FPÖ is out with their first poster wave (ca. 5.000 all over the city):





Party leader Nepp is focusing on non-immigrant Austrians („our home“ + our Vienna“) and contrasts it with radical Islam & Turkish flags and how Red-Green-ÖVP supports these negative developments.

Also notice how the fully-veiled Muslims look at the crescent-shaped St. Stephans Cathedral out of the window and at a picture on the wall titled „home, sweet home.“

[Tender Branson]

The Vienna election commission has given the green light yesterday to all 12 parties that submitted enough signatures for the Oct. 11 state election.

9 of them will appear on the ballot citywide.

https://www.wien.gv.at/presse/2020/08/27/wien-wahl-2020-neun-listen-kandidieren-wienweit-fuer-den-gemeinderat

The (postal) ballots can be printed next week now and then sent to voters.

It is expected that a record-high 40-50% of voters will cast their vote by post.

The conservative ÖVP is actively advertising postal voting this year, calling it the „safest way to vote“ in this environment. NEOS is annoyed by the ÖVP calling voters to use postal votes this time, ignoring that they did the same ahead of the 2015 election.

https://kurier.at/chronik/oesterreich/aerger-um-oevp-anrufe-bei-waehlern/401008484

The city will also establish mobile election commissions for the ca. 3.000 people in Coronavirus quarantine so they can vote as well. These mobile commissions previously were set up for old people unable to leave their homes and people in need of care.

[Tender Branson]

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz delivered a State of the Nation address today:

Chancellor Kurz: "There is light at the end of the tunnel"


Chancellor Kurz hold a speech today to the nation about the current situation.
Picture: © Bundeskanzleramt (BKA) / Dragan Tatic

Today, Chancellor Kurz was holding a State of the Union Address and talked about the Coronavirus, special vacation for parents and a "pact against isolation". According to him, the next summer will be normal again. However, the time until then will be challenging.

First, Kurz talked about the year 2020 and that it was very challenging for all citizen. However, "there is light at the end of the tunnel" says Kurz and that the crisis will last shorter than many experts believed at the beginning.

He is thus referring to national and international health researchers and experts as laboratories are researching intensively for a vaccine, new testing methods and treatments. This should lead to a normal summer 2021 as we used to know it.

Now it is very important to reserve enough vaccine to vaccinate everyone who wants to. The vaccine will only be authorised when it has been tested properly. Moreover, Kurz reaffirms that there will not be any compulsory vaccination in Austria.

Today, scientists have a way greater knowledge about the virus, and it is known that COVID-19 already mutated. If this leads to a milder progression in general is not known yet.

Nevertheless, what is already known is where clusters are mostly formatted and for whom the virus is more dangerous.

With this knowledge, Kurz says it is also clear that the upcoming months are getting difficult. It is getting colder again, and schools are starting in September with many people indoor. It is will be difficult to distinguish between a normal flue and the Coronavirus.

The chancellor further puts in view that with decreasing numbers of infections the restrictions will be eased. "As much freedom as necessary and as much restriction as necessary." he says.

He appeals to all Austrian to stick to all regulations and to stay disciplined until the pandemic is over.

"We are now also facing a global economic crisis that we have not experienced on this scale for a long time." Austria will not be spared from the crisis as the economy will collapse by seven percent this year.

The government will now concentrate on easing new business foundations to create as many jobs as possible. A work foundation will be founded in order to bring more jobs in the healthcare industry closer to job seekers. Additionally, about an improved legal basis for the home office will be discussed with the Social Partners.

Kurz further addressed the difficulty for parents when their children are sent home for digital schooling. Therefore, it will be again possible to take a three weeks special vacation to support and care taking of children at home. He also mentioned that a new technical university will be built in Linz, Upper Austria.

In order to support Austrian companies and farmers, the public sector will buy from now on mostly regional products for canteens. If 20% of the products are bought regionally 46,000 workplaces can be created, calculated Kurz.

Finally, he addressed the problem of isolation which occurred for many people, mostly old people, in the last few months. Therefore, the government will be working on a "pact against isolation" to provide an "aging with dignity".

Link

[Tender Branson]

Tourism in Austria, by month.

Before the lockdown, Jan. + Feb. had increases compared to 2019.

Then the big crash.

In July, the situation was improving - with 3 states (Styria, Burgenland and Carinthia) even having more guests than in July 2019.

Still, Austria-wide there was a 17% decline (Vienna: -50%) and in the tourism-heavy states Tyrol, Salzburg and Vorarlberg between minus 10-15%.

[Tender Branson]

H.C. Strache also formally started his Vienna campaign today with an event where almost nobody wore a mask ("We need to learn to live with the virus."):





Strache also considers himself rehabilitated from the "Ibiza"-video scandal, said he's "the Original" in reference to his former party FPÖ and called for higher minimum pensions.

He also attacked the FPÖ + the Red/Green city government and the ÖVP on immigration and the rules against Covid.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000119667142/strache-gegen-einwanderer-fpoe-und-corona-massnahmen

[CumbrianLefty]

Isn't wearing masks part of "learning to live with the virus"?

[Tender Branson]

Isn't wearing masks part of "learning to live with the virus"?

Not for far-right-wingers.

[bigic]

The Vienna-FPÖ is out with their first poster wave (ca. 5.000 all over the city):

"Radikaler" is with really tiny letters (like it doesn't exist) compared to "Islam"...

[Tender Branson]

The Vienna-FPÖ is out with their first poster wave (ca. 5.000 all over the city):

"Radikaler" is with really tiny letters (like it doesn't exist) compared to "Islam"...

Yes, it’s all about visuals: if you see the poster on the street, it’s about associating SPÖ+Greens+ÖVP as supporters of radical Islam.

[Tender Branson]

The „election booth“ for Vienna is now online:

https://wahlkabine.at/landtagswahl-wien-2020/wahlkabine/1

You can answer 25 questions to see which party you are closest to.

You can also rank every question as important or not on a 0-10 scale below yes, no, undecided.

I got the Greens, closely followed by the Beer Party, Left, SÖZ, SPÖ and NEOS.

The FPÖ was last, slightly ahead of the ÖVP and Strache.

[Mike88]

My results were:

ÖVP +67
NEOS +45
FPÖ +34
HC +10
SPÖ -8
SÖZ -9
GRÜNE -19
BIER -21
LINKS -46

[Tender Branson]

Despite Coronavirus and an expected postal ballot record of 40% of all votes cast, Vienna will not cut the number of precincts on Election Day (as seen in many US cities).

There were 1.499 precincts on Election Day 2015 and there will be 1.494 precincts on Oct. 11

The final number of eligible voters is also out:

1.133.010 (state election)
1.362.789 (district elections) - higher because EU citizens can vote as well

https://www.wien.gv.at/presse/2020/08/31/wien-wahl-2020-1-494-wahllokale-fuer-1-362-789-waehlerinnen

Full slate of candidates for the election:

https://www.wien.gv.at/politik/wahlen/grbv/pdf/kundmachung-stadtwahlvorschlag.pdf

[Tender Branson]

2 left-wing parties, the Greens and LINKS, have revealed their first campaign posters today:

The Vienna-Green Party posters feature the popular Austrian Health Minister Anschober, who used to be roughly as popular as Chancellor Kurz in recent months.

https://twitter.com/gruenewien/status/1301072102003322881

https://twitter.com/gruenewien/status/1301140962396299267

LINKS:

https://twitter.com/linkswien/status/1301175410227544066

https://twitter.com/linkswien/status/1301172225631031296

... focuses on underpaid women (1.950€ minimum wage), a rich-tax and liveable subsidized apartments.

[Tender Branson]

Liberal NEOS out with their first posters in Vienna:



And the ÖVP as well:

[Tender Branson]

Ballots for the Vienna election will go into print next week and start being delivered to postal voters on September 14th, which is 4 weeks ahead of the election.

Contrary to the US, the 300.000 to 400.000 postal voters in the city don’t need to worry about postal delays. They can request a ballot until the Friday before election Sunday and the Post will empty all postal boxes the Saturday before election Sunday.

So, only incredibly stupid people who drop off their postal votes on Saturday afternoon at a post box will likely see their ballots returned on Monday, which is too late.

[ConservativeElector]

My results were:

ÖVP +67
NEOS +45
FPÖ +34
HC +10
SPÖ -8
SÖZ -9
GRÜNE -19
BIER -21
LINKS -46

I like your result. I am a registered ÖVP member as well.

[PSOL]

Links 248
Green 228
Söz 193
Beer 103
Neos 88
SPO 25
HC -203
Ovp -273
FPÖ-303

Yeah, I definitely see it

[Tender Branson]

My results were:

ÖVP +67
NEOS +45
FPÖ +34
HC +10
SPÖ -8
SÖZ -9
GRÜNE -19
BIER -21
LINKS -46

I like your result. I am a registered ÖVP member as well.

What are your thoughts on the election ?

I assume you are a voter in Wien ?