BRKG Austria presidential poll result overturned

[Melodi]

Oh life this side of the water just got even more interesting...

Austria presidential poll result overturned

18 minutes ago
From the section Europe

Image caption The decision was announced by the Constitutional Court

Austria's highest court has annulled the result of the presidential election narrowly lost by the candidate of the far-right Freedom Party.

The party had challenged the result, saying that postal votes had been improperly handled.

The Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, lost the election to the former leader of the Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen, by less than a percentage point.

The election will now be re-run.

Announcing the decision, Gerhard Holzinger, head of the Constitutional Court, said: "The challenge brought by Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache against the 22 May election... has been upheld."

In two weeks of hearings, lawyers for the Freedom Party argued that postal ballots were illegally handled in 94 out of 117 districts.

It alleged that thousands of votes were opened earlier than permitted under election rules and some were counted by people unauthorised to do so.

The party also claimed to have evidence that some under-16s and foreigners had been allowed to vote.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Norbert Hofer (r) lost the now annulled election only very narrowly to Alexander Van der Bellen (l)

If elected, Mr Hofer will become the first far-right head of state of an EU country.

His party has based its election campaigns around concern over immigration and falling living standards for the less well-off.

Following the court's order to re-run the vote, President Heinz Fischer will be replaced on a temporary basis by three parliamentary officials, including Mr Hofer.

The new election is expected to be held in September or October.
What powers does the Austrian president have?

It is a mostly ceremonial post. But the president does have the power to dissolve the National Council - the more powerful lower house of parliament. That triggers a general election.

The president can only do that once for a particular reason - he cannot use the same grounds to dissolve it again.

It is the chancellor's job to appoint government ministers. And the chancellor has the power to dismiss the government. But ministers have to be formally sworn in by the president.
Vying to lead Austria

Norbert Hofer
Image copyright EPA

Age: 45
Background: Aeronautical engineer
Politics: Far-right Freedom Party
Campaign soundbite: "To those in Austria who go to war for the Islamic State or rape women - I say to those people: 'This is not your home'."

Alexander Van der Bellen
Image copyright AFP

Age: 72
Background: Economics professor
Politics: Former Green Party leader
Campaign soundbite: "I've experienced how Austria rose from the ruins of World War Two, caused by the madness of nationalism."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36681475

 

[Plain Jane]

That result always looked a little sketchy!


http://www.breitbart.com/london/201...ndidate-gets-second-chance-postal-vote-fraud/

Austria Presidential Election Annulled After ‘Serious’ Postal Vote Fraud

JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty
by OLIVER JJ LANE1 Jul 201641
Austria’s Constitutional court has today ordered May’s presidential election be annulled and another called after “particularly serious cases” of voting fraud were detected in the photo-finish vote.

The Green party-backed candidate Alexander Van der Bellen originally snatched victory by a mere 0.6 per cent in the second round vote, which was taken to decide the new president of central-European state Austria in May. He had made it to the round alongside Freedom Party (FPO) candidate Norbert Hofer, who campaigned to protect Austria from mass migration and Islamification.
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Alexander Van der Bellen (L) and Norbert Hofer (R) speak in a televised debate before the presidential elections in May

Now the Austrian Constitutional court has upheld a complaint by the FPO about conduct in the election. The party had alleged that there were voting “irregularities” in 94 of the 117 total electoral constituencies in the country, reports Kronen Zeitung.

It is not known how many of the 94 areas alleged to have voting irregularities have been investigated, but the court identified “20 particularly serious cases” after interviewing 67 witnesses. Two witnesses are reported to have refused to give a statement. The allegation is that in these areas the postal ballots were opened and sorted before the arrival of Electoral Commission arrivals, meaning they could have been easily tampered with.

Given that the election was carried by just 30,863 votes, and up to 740,000 postal votes are in question the Constitutional court has now ruled the vote should be re-run, although the date for this has not yet been announced. Until the new vote in Autumn, the role of Austria’s Presidency will be fulfilled by a three-member National President Council (Präsidium des Nationalrats) — on which the FPO presidential candidate Norbert Hofer already sits.

President of the constitutional court Gerhart Holzinger said the ruling “does not make you a loser or a winner” to representatives of the two parties present in the court room this morning, and said the sentence had been passed to “strengthen confidence in the rule of law and democracy”, reportsGermany’s Die Welt.

Breitbart London reported in May that Freedom party secretary Herbert Kickl had spoken out before the vote over the “unusually high number” of postal ballots requested. He warned at the time that “[postal votes] repeatedly show inconsistencies”.

The decision comes just seven days before Green-backed candidate Alexander Van der Bellen was due to be officially sworn in as President of Austria.

Even before the allegations of electoral fraud, the vote was already considered extraordinary as it is the first time in modern Austrian history where none of the candidates in the final round were representiatives of the mainstream parties. Rather than a run-off between the Austrian People’s Party (OVP) and Social Democratic Party (SPO), the presidency was up between either the populist-right Hofer, or Green der Bellen.

Hofer, who initially told press his party would not be contesting the elections despite the close vote before the serious voting problems became apparent, campaigned on his Euroscepticism and opposition to mass migration to Austria.

 

[ShadowMan]

Interesting, very interesting.

I'm actually expecting some sort of election shenanigans here come November.....actually a lot of SHENANIGANS!

 

[4RIVERS]

Interesting, very interesting.

I'm actually expecting some sort of election shenanigans here come November.....actually a lot of SHENANIGANS!

They (hillary) will do anything required to win this election. This ones gonna be nasty.

 

[Plain Jane]

It's safe to assume that they also tried to rig the Brexit vote but the votes for Leave were just too overwhelming. I wonder what the real tally was?


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-...l-election-after-finding-widespread-voting-fr

Austrian Court Orders Rerun Of Presidential Election After Finding "Widespread" Voting Fraud

by Tyler Durden
Jul 1, 2016 7:09 AM
TwitterFacebookReddit
In yet another slap in the face for an already reeling Europe, moments ago Austria's Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that the presidential runoff election must be held again, handing the Freedom Party's narrowly defeated candidate another chance to become the first right-wing head of state in the European Union. Norbert Hofer of the anti-immigration FPO lost the May 22 vote to former Greens leader Alexander Van der Bellen by less than one percentage point, or around 31,000 votes, all due to mailed-in ballots.
This prompted a loud outcry of allegations that the vote had been rigged. As it turns out the allegations were spot on.

Austrian Freedom Party presidential candidate Norbert Hofer
As a reminder, one month ago - in the aftermath of the Freedom Party candidate's loss by a negligible margin in the Austrian presidential runoff election - five voting districts were being investigated over postal vote irregularities in the close-run presidential election.

Allegations of fraud arose from the far-right Freedom party of defeated candidate Norbert Hofer, after the Green candidate Alexander Van der Bellen just scrapped ahead with 31,000 votes when the postal ballot was counted. As a result, the anti-immigrant Freedom Party had challenged the election result earlier this month, alleging “catastrophic” violations of election law, especially in how mail-in ballots were processed.

Many were sceptical that anything of substance would be found, and yet that is precisely what happened: as the WSJ reports, the court found law violations in “many districts” in how the May 22 second-round vote was carried out, Mr. Neuwirth said. “It is for the [Constitutional Court] completely clear that the laws that regulate an election must be applied rigorously.”

“The challenge is granted,” chief justice Gerhart Holzinger said in announcing the verdict in Vienna

The decision comes a week after Britain delighted anti-EU groups such as the Freedom Party (FPO) by voting to leave the bloc. Concerns about immigration and jobs featured prominently in the Brexit referendum, as they did in Austria's knife-edge election.
As Reuters adds, the court said that widespread irregularities in the counting of the more than 700,000 postal ballots cast meant there was enough doubt over the election's outcome for a re-run to be ordered.

Whether a re-run of the vote for the largely ceremonial post of president will have a different outcome this time is unclear. The Brexit vote could buoy populist sentiment or have a chilling effect on it.

The court said it was using its strict standard on the application of election rules. Those rules were broken in a way that might have influenced the result, but there was no proof that the count had been manipulated, it said in its ruling.

However, if the Freedom Party does end up winning after a recount, it will confirm that in addition to using fearmongering tactics, the Euro-faithful resort to such blatant measures as outright vote fraud (in addition to rigging bookie odds) in order to preserve a dying status quo. Which would mean that any and all future polls and referenda in which the future of the EU is at stake will be even more closely scrutizined, while concerns about a "rigged system" will rise to unseen levels.

 

[imaginative]

Fantastic news...very encouraging

 

[Be Well]

Excellent news. ANd now with Brexit passing, and the EUfreaks revealing their Superstate plans, the good guy will win even bigger.

 

[northern watch]

Austrian far right gets second chance at presidency with vote re-run

VIENNA
By Francois Murphy and Kirsti Knolle
Friday July 1, 2016 3:41pm BST
Reuters

Austria's presidential election runoff must be held again, the Constitutional Court ruled on Friday, handing the Freedom Party's narrowly defeated candidate another chance to become the first far-right head of state in the European Union.

The verdict comes a week after Britain delighted anti-EU groups by voting to leave the bloc. Concerns about immigration and jobs featured prominently in that referendum, as they did in Austria's knife-edge election.

Norbert Hofer of the anti-immigration and anti-EU Freedom Party (FPO) lost the May 22 vote to former Greens leader Alexander Van der Bellen by less than one percentage point, or around 31,000 votes, in the race for what is largely a ceremonial position.

The court found more than twice that number of postal ballots had been affected by breaches of the electoral code, forcing it to order a re-run.

Irregularities included ballots being processed before the official start of the count the morning after the election, and counts being carried out in the absence of party observers, often because officials were racing to provide a result quickly.

Ruling on a challenge brought by FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache, the court found no proof that the result had been manipulated, but the possibility that it might have been affected was enough for a challenge to succeed.

The re-run will reopen a debate that split Austria almost evenly, pitting town against country, and blue-collar workers worried about immigration and falling living standards against the more highly educated.

How the outcome might change in a European political climate coloured by the Brexit vote is unclear. Widespread frustration with traditional parties of power has been a feature of both votes, and fuelled support for anti-immigration groups.

Austria was swept up in Europe's migration crisis last autumn when it and Germany opened their borders to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere, only to reverse course as public opinion turned.

Hofer's near-victory was widely seen as part of a rising tide of populism that has since reached Britain. The Brexit vote could buoy support for Hofer - or the economic fallout, including a sharp drop in sterling, could undermine him.

"Brexit is a current issue. It will still be a current issue in the autumn," Van der Bellen, a chain-smoking 72-year-old, told a news conference.

The irregularities that have come to light during testimony to the Constitutional Court have dismayed the Austrian public.

"There was sloppiness," Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka, whose ministry oversees elections and was accused by several witnesses of putting pressure on officials to provide a rapid count, told reporters after the verdict.

The centrist coalition government must now set a date for the re-run. President Heinz Fischer, whose term runs out on July 8, has said it will most likely be in the autumn.
In the meantime, the position will be held by the three presidents of the lower house of parliament - one of whom is Hofer.

Strache said he was satisfied by the ruling.

"There is no cause to celebrate and no cause for alarm but there is cause to recognise how quickly, how thoroughly and transparently my challenge was seen, verified and in the end ruled on," he told a news conference.

Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Front, an ally of the Freedom Party, was less restrained.

"After the happy victory of Brexit in the United Kingdom and the rise of euroscepticism in Italy, Austria too has the opportunity to return to the path of freedom and national pride," she said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander in Paris; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-aus...-idUKKCN0ZH4K3

 

[Plain Jane]

I think that it was Melodi who has said that if the vote was within 10% then they could manipulate it. In this case it seems that there were eye-witnesses, but it does call into question the votes in Scottish and Catalonian referendums for independence. I also wonder if the margin of victory for Brexit was even larger.

 

[Melodi]

I think that it was Melodi who has said that if the vote was within 10% then they could manipulate it. In this case it seems that there were eye-witnesses, but it does call into question the votes in Scottish and Catalonian referendums for independence. I also wonder if the margin of victory for Brexit was even larger.

Yes, I have heard and read that from several sources; mostly former "Company" men or related types who were retired or now engaged in other work; I mean when people like that say things you have to realize that sometimes they are also providing disinformation but I've heard that 5 to 10 percent number often enough.

What they REALLY like is the 1 to 2 percent margins like they had in this election; I can't remember which interview it was (it was years ago) but I remember the guy saying that it was standard procedure if the US (or another major power) wanted to manipulate an election in "La Bananica Republica" or something; they would pay for lots of media releases and planted stories about how close the vote was; have polls showing a dead heat (just like in the both the Brexit and the Austrian votes) and then it was much easier to carefully manipulate the desired result and have people believe it.

In the case of Austria; it was so obvious they were caught at it; I think they figured they would get away with it because it was so similar to the "election" in Florida - which as far as I know was the first time that this third world method was "obvious" used it the US - Not that Al Gore would have made a great President or anything but pretty much the way the votes were "counted" insured whatever result the most powerful money/individuals of the day wanted.

Brexit didn't work (I think) because the people behind the manipulation could control the press to a degree and perhaps what happened in London; but they totally misjudged their ability to bribe, corrupt or even oversee hundreds of voting places out in the small villages, towns and Northern Cities. They didn't even wait until morning to do the counting (as would happen in Ireland) which in Austria seems to have been where the boxes were tampered with - instead the moment the polls closed the counting started.

In the British heartland that counting was done by local people who knew each other, in front of their friends as well as the TV cameras; and I am now starting to think that 10 percent is probably too wide a gap to futz with in the developed world (with its independent polling and greater access to information).

As it was, I think the gab in England was just too great for them to swing and there was no time for "hanging chads" and "postal votes" from Ex-pats were not allowed for the Brexit vote the way they would have been in some elections.

I gather the folks in the EU are wringing their hands about this election reversal; the Presidential post in Austria (as in Ireland) is mostly symbolic (attend state funerals, kills babies, open new malls etc) but it isn't unimportant. But having voter fraud exposed this extensively and in your face by their high court is HUGE.

 

[Garryowen]

Sounds like the Austrian .gov cares about integrity more than does ours. We don't even have a "smidgen" of fraud. More like a boatload.

 

[somdwatcher]

Austrians are starting to show their backbone and they had their own and much more important 9/11 over 300 years prior to ours...(1683)....and the Austrian people are drawn to "their history" in defense of the gates of Western/Christian civilization. The current flood of immigration being thrown in their faces by Brussels is too much for the average central or eastern European citizen to bear. The mainstream Western media wants this issue to be cut and dry in their favor but is not working out as such.

 

[AlfaMan]

The groundswell of conservatism is picking up steam worldwide, it seems.