🇦🇹 Austrian Elections & Politics 6.0 - Federal election: 29 September 2024

[Sven der Igel]

Upper Austria is almost fully counted.

Still virtually the same result.

The conservative ÖVP might re-enter a coalition with the FPÖ again (because their junior partner got decimated a lot today).

Or choose the SPÖ, or the Greens.

The ORF voter analysis poll says ÖVP voters prefer a continuation of government with the FPÖ.

The voter turnout is now at 77%, very good for a regional election & similar to turnout in Germany today, which had a more important election.

- - -

Meanwhile in Graz (300.000 people):

After all votes got counted, excluding mail votes (tomorrow), the Communist Party won a HUGE and stunning victory that nobody saw coming !

The conservative mayor of Graz stepped down a while ago.

Chancellor Kurz called the win of the Communists a „threat“.

KPÖ + Greens + SPÖ could form a leftist government now.

The success of the KPÖ is because of city councilor Elke Kahr, who became HUGELY popular in recent years.

As city councilor for housing, she welcomed 150 (!) people per week (!) and advised them on all things related to housing, rents, eviction protection etc.

KPÖ politicians are not only down to earth and trustworthy, but also donated most of their salary to people in need ...

This success today was long in the making as you can see.

[Sven der Igel]

As a result of the Upper Austria election today, the ÖVP will gain a seat from the FPÖ in the federal Bundesrat (the 2nd chamber of parliament next to the Nationalrat).

The Bundesrat represents the states and their election results.

With the gain of 1 seat for the ÖVP, the Austrian ÖVP-Green government will now have a majority in that 2nd chamber as well, making it easier for them to pass new laws.

For example, one of their next big laws will be a tax cut with ecological consequences for car owners: gas prices will go up, as will taxes and energy costs for companies to limit greenhouse gas emissions. If the ÖVP approves the Green proposal. In return, taxes for small and middle income earners will get lowered and a nationwide public transportation ticket for 365€ will be introduced by January 1, 2022.

[Sven der Igel]

Among young voters (16-30), the Greens are the strongest party, says the ORF.

Among voters with a university degree, the FPÖ gets only 4%.

Among voters who have an apprenticeship as their highest degree, the FPÖ gets 40%.

[Sven der Igel]

Anti-Vaxers, Communists Surprise in Austrian Regional Ballots

By Zoe Schneeweiss
26. September 2021, 21:26 MESZ

- Country’s second-biggest city may get first communist mayor
- Vaccine-skeptic MFG group set to get seats in Upper Austria

Niche parties surprised in Austrian regional elections on Sunday, reflecting turbulent voting dynamics in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Communist Party, which hasn’t had a parliamentary representation at the federal level since 1959, is set to unseat the center-right mayor in Graz, Austria’s second-largest city.

Elke Kahr received more than 29% of votes, according to partial results. That compares with 26% for the incumbent mayor from Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s People’s Party, a 12 percentage-point drop compared with its previous election tally in 2017.

[etc.]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-26/anti-vaxers-communists-surprise-in-austrian-regional-ballots

[Sven der Igel]

Final Upper Austria results (turnout: 76.4%, similar to Germany):

https://orf.at/wahl/ooe21/ergebnisse

Graz results (excl. mail vote):

https://www.wahlergebnis.graz.at/

[Not Me, Us]

Funny that the second biggest city in Austria is being run by communists. You’d never see that in the US.

[Niemeyerite]

Thank you, Tender!

[Hnv1]

Funny that the second biggest city in Austria is being run by communists. You’d never see that in the US.

Wasn’t Milwaukee run by a socialist mayor well into the 80’s?

So what exactly is preventing the KPÖ from lifting up in federal elections? There’s definitely room to the left of the SPÖ

[Sven der Igel]

Funny that the second biggest city in Austria is being run by communists. You’d never see that in the US.

They only won the election so far.

It remains unclear if the established parties will work together with them.

Elke Kahr and the Communists have previously been very reluctant to enter coalitions in the event of a win (they were caught by surprise too yesterday).

Today Kahr said she could see herself becoming mayor of Graz though, talking with the ÖVP first. But the ÖVP has ruled out working with the KPÖ.

It needs to be said that Graz is a special case: only there the KPÖ is a thing. No other big Austrian city has the KPÖ over 3%.

[Sven der Igel]

Funny that the second biggest city in Austria is being run by communists. You’d never see that in the US.

Wasn’t Milwaukee run by a socialist mayor well into the 80’s?

So what exactly is preventing the KPÖ from lifting up in federal elections? There’s definitely room to the left of the SPÖ

There is some room to the left of the SPÖ, but it’s occupied by the Greens.

Even in Bavaria yesterday, the Linke only got 2.5% - the lowest share among all German states.

Austria is the same. A Left Party would gain no traction, the federal KPÖ is also incompetent and lacks funding.

[Sven der Igel]

Graz city council election now complete (all mail ballots counted):



Seats:



City Senate seats:

3 KPÖ
2 ÖVP
1 Greens
1 FPÖ
0 SPÖ
0 NEOS

[Sven der Igel]

Former Austria FPÖ-leader H.C. Strache launched a run in Graz.

https://kurier.at/chronik/wien/die-klein-gewordene-welt-des-heinz-christian-strache/401747226

He received 0.25% of the vote.

LOL.

[Not Me, Us]

Funny that the second biggest city in Austria is being run by communists. You’d never see that in the US.

Wasn’t Milwaukee run by a socialist mayor well into the 80’s?

So what exactly is preventing the KPÖ from lifting up in federal elections? There’s definitely room to the left of the SPÖ

The last Socialist Mayor of Milwaukee left office in 1960, and I doubt something like that will ever happen again. The closest will ever get would be a DSA mayor of NYC, LA or Chicago, and even that isn't all that likely.

[C r a b c a k e]

The Communists in Graz are very good at PR, with their politicians often being seen doing good deeds/walking the walk and donating chunks of their salaries. Tender, for example, was effusive about them and always was glad when they did well, even though he is not a communist by any means.

The Milwaukee note is a good one: they are textbook sewer socialists.

[warandwar]

The Communists in Graz are very good at PR, with their politicians often being seen doing good deeds/walking the walk and donating chunks of their salaries. Tender, for example, was effusive about them and always was glad when they did well, even though he is not a communist by any means.

The Milwaukee note is a good one: they are textbook sewer socialists.

They don't actually run any public services, so they are not "textbook" sewer socialists. They are orthodox Marxist-Leninists who were in a long fued w the Party's Eurocom wing, strangely enough.
Their main issue is housing - what powers do austrian cities have there? Could they build public housing on their own?

[Sven der Igel]

The KPÖs Elke Kahr has given an interview to the ORF. She said she’s getting more comfortable taking the post of mayor in Graz, because of the overwhelming result.



ÖVP+FPÖ+NEOS have ruled out voting for her as mayor in the city council.

The SPÖ said they will elect her.

Now it comes down to the Greens (who are in a coalition with the Kurz-ÖVP in the Austrian Nationalrat).

The Green leader, Judith Schwentner, said she wants to talk with Elke Kahr first and a big coalition topic for them is the climate and traffic.

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000130019624/kpoe-chefin-kahr-braucht-die-gruenen-fuers-buergermeisteramt

[Sven der Igel]

The Communists in Graz are very good at PR, with their politicians often being seen doing good deeds/walking the walk and donating chunks of their salaries. Tender, for example, was effusive about them and always was glad when they did well, even though he is not a communist by any means.

The Milwaukee note is a good one: they are textbook sewer socialists.

I assume you are referring to the creator of this thread. That is indeed a sentiment shared by many voters in the city Graz: they are by no means communist, but really like the calm demeanor of Kahr and her fellow city politicians, their trustworthiness, their work for the people, their openness and social heart and Robin Hood mentality. Besides, Elke Kahr - who used to be popular city councilor for HOUSING between 2012-17 - was pushed into city councilor for TRAFFIC by the ÖVP (who speculated that moving her agenda would make her less popular !). It spectacularly backfired on the ÖVP, because she became even more popular.

[Astatine]

RIP this thread, once and for all.

[FrancoAgo]

RIP this thread, once and for all.

there is no motive to close this subject

[Astatine]

RIP this thread, once and for all.

there is no motive to close this subject

The only person who kept this thread alive has been permabanned (Tender aka Sven der Igel).

[FrancoAgo]

RIP this thread, once and for all.

there is no motive to close this subject

The only person who kept this thread alive has been permabanned (Tender aka Sven der Igel).

i suppose this is for austrian elections, so that Tender is permabanned is irrelevant, austrian will continue to vote

[Хahar 🤔]

I was looking at the German Wikipedia page for the anti-vaccine party, and its listed ideologies are Impfgegnerschaft, Populismus, and Laizismus. It's hard to think of a less appealing list!

[warandwar]

From Der Standard

Shortly before the election, members of Nagl’s party, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, had warned in drastic terms of what might happen if the communists were allowed to prevail in the election. A vote for the leftists, they said, was "a vote for chaos, terror and fear." They warned of mass unemployment. The term "Leningraz" even made the rounds.

And then, there was the ultimate victor of the elections, the head of the Communist Party of Graz (KPÖ) Elke Kahr, who had given the ÖVP apocalyptic nightmares, standing before the television cameras earlier in the day and answering questions about what she would do until the election results were announced. Her answer? She said she would use the time to finally do a bit of housework and wash a couple of loads of laundry. The beautiful weather, she insisted, was perfect for drying.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

The Communists in Graz are very good at PR, with their politicians often being seen doing good deeds/walking the walk and donating chunks of their salaries. Tender, for example, was effusive about them and always was glad when they did well, even though he is not a communist by any means.

The Milwaukee note is a good one: they are textbook sewer socialists.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/austrian-communists-caught-in-controversy-over-praise-for-lukashenko-regime/
Ofcourse they have the same problem of loving authotarainsm and dictatorships that every other communism suffers from.

Werner Murgg, one of only two communist MPs in the state parliament of Styria, praised the Lukashenko regime on Belarussian television during a visit to the country in August and referred to “stability and order” in Europe’s last dictatorship.

He claimed that the West is waging “a hybrid war against Belarus” and stated that he was “pleasantly surprised” about how open the society was when he was spending his vacation there.

While he later backpedalled in an official statement and tried to distance himself from the regime in Belarus, the damage had already been done.


 

[#UnbanTender]

https://metropole.at/ovp-scandal-kurz-media-triangle/

On Tuesday, there will be a confidence vote which Kurz and the ÖVP does not expect to survive. Either an anti-ÖVP coalition or an expert government will be formed in preparation of a new election.

Here's the best of part of the scandal. These two polls are alleged to be fake. They show then ÖVP leader and vice chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner with much worse numbers than other pollsters show. And then they asked a hypothetical question with a Kurz led ÖVP winning the election. The right wing tabloids ran a barrage of such fake polls to pressure Mitterlehner to resign and to push Kurz as leader. They succeeded and the rest became a self fulfilling prophecy.







You can check out the list of fake polls on wikipedia to see the full extent of the manipulation.