Election of the Federal President in Austria in 2016

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Result of the
repeated
runoff election
53.79%
46.21%
Van der
Bellen 		Hofer
Alexander Van der Bellen on the evening of the election
The official seat of the Federal President since 1946: the Leopoldine wing of the Hofburg in Vienna
"Official ballot for the election of the Federal President on April 24, 2016"
Sample of the official ballot for the first ballot
“Election of the Federal President 2016 Official ballot for the second ballot” by postal vote
Sample of the official ballot for the second ballot (runoff) by postal vote
Ballot for the (canceled) second ballot in the voting booth
Ballot for repeating the second ballot

The Austrian Federal President election 2016 ( BPW 2016 for short , in official usage also BPW '16 ) was the 13th  direct election of an Austrian head of state by the federal people since the Federal President election in 1951 . Their duration of over seven months, specifically from April to December, was unusual.

Federal President Heinz Fischer , who has been in office since 2004 , was not allowed to run for re-election. Six candidates ran for the first ballot of BPW 2016 on April 24th : five men and one woman. This was the highest number since the 1951 election with six candidates. In the first ballot, with a turnout of 68.5%, Norbert Hofer with 35% and Alexander Van der Bellen with 21% of the valid votes qualified for the runoff election .

In the runoff election on May 22, 2016, with a turnout of 72.7%, Van der Bellen won with 50.3% versus Hofer with 49.7%, which was only certain after the postal votes were counted the following day. However, the Constitutional Court (VfGH) overturned the election because of violations of the electoral law in the handling of postal votes and because of the early publication of the first results on election day before the election deadline due to the election contestation brought in by Heinz-Christian Strache as Hofer's authorized recipient, whereby the repetition of the second ballot across Austria was required. In fact, however, no manipulation whatsoever could be proven, and the probability that this could have tipped the election result was, according to statistics experts, vanishingly small.

October 2, 2016 was initially set as the date for the redial, but after a glitch in the production of postal voting documents, this election date was postponed to December 4, 2016 by a separate federal law. Citizens who were not yet entitled to vote at the time of the first election were also allowed to participate in this election, with September 27, 2016 being the deadline for the newly created electoral roll.

On December 4, 2016, Alexander Van der Bellen was able to prevail again with 53.8% against Norbert Hofer with 46.2% of the valid votes. The turnout increased to 74.2% compared to the ballot that was canceled. On January 26, 2017, he was sworn in as the new Federal President.

Suffrage

Formal requirements

The legal provisions for the election of the Federal President can be found in the Federal Presidential Election Act 1971 (BPäsWG), in conjunction with Art. 60 Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG). Austrian citizens who have reached the age of 16 by the end of the day of the election and are not excluded from voting by a judicial conviction are entitled to vote. In order to be eligible to vote, they must also be 35 years of age.

As a prerequisite for running as a candidate for the election of the Federal President, at least 6,000 associated declarations of support must be submitted to the federal electoral authority set up at the Ministry of the Interior together with the candidate proposal; at the same time, a contribution to costs of 3,600 euros must be made in accordance with Section 7 BPäsWG. The last deadline for submission is the 37th day before election day at 5 pm, this time on March 18, 2016. The grace period for correcting deficiencies, such as an insufficient number of declarations of support, ended on March 22, 2016. Candidates who submitted If a valid nomination was not successful, your contribution to the costs will be reimbursed in accordance with § 9 BPäsWG. The final list of candidates was finalized on March 24, 2016.

The person applying for election who receives the absolute majority of the valid votes cast is elected ( Section 17, first sentence, BPäsWG). If this is not the case for any of the candidates in the first ballot, a second ballot will take place between the two candidates who received the most votes in the first ballot ("shortlist", § 18 ). If two applicants have the same number of votes, the lot to be drawn by the Federal Returning Officer decides on participation in the second ballot ( § 18, last sentence).

In the event that no candidate with a majority of valid votes (that is at least 50% plus one vote) emerges from the second ballot, but both have achieved a tie, the shortlist is in accordance with Section 20 (3) - with analogous application of the electoral provisions for the second ballot - to be repeated until there is a majority according to § 17 first sentence (see above).

Consequences of the repeal of the "Habsburg Paragraph"

For the first time, “members of ruling houses or families who previously ruled” were also allowed to run for election. The exclusion from the right to stand for election to the Federal President, which - depending on the legal interpretation - primarily affected the members of the Habsburg-Lothringen family , no longer took place. The corresponding amendment to the Federal Constitutional Law was carried out in particular by the imperial descendant Ulrich Habsburg-Lothringen before the 2010 federal presidential election . The exclusion from the right to stand as a candidate was lifted with the 2011 Electoral Law Amendment; the change came into effect on October 1, 2011. None of the eligible persons submitted a nomination for the 2016 election.

Number of eligible voters

In this federal presidential election there were 6,382,484 active voters after the expiry of the deadline for correcting the electoral roll. This was 1,824 fewer than in the 2013 National Council election . The final number of Austrians abroad entitled to vote on the basis of their entry in the electoral register of a municipality was 42,830.

Candidate

Irmgard Griss (cropped) .jpg NorbertHofer.jpg Rudolf Hundstorfer (cropped) .JPG Andreas Khol September 2006 (cropped) .jpg Gassenhuber lugner (cropped) .jpg Alexander Van der Bellen 2016 (cropped) .jpg
Irmgard Griss Norbert Hofer Rudolf Hundstorfer Andreas Khol Richard Lugner Alexander Van der Bellen
Independently Freedom Party of Austria Social Democratic Party of Austria Austrian People's Party Independently Independent, member of the Greens
First ballot First ballot First ballot First ballot First ballot First ballot
Second ballot Second ballot

Six people had submitted valid nominations to the federal electoral authority by the deadline, March 18, 2016. The required at least 6,000 declarations of support were submitted by Richard Lugner within the legally prescribed three-day grace period, and by the other candidates as early as March 18, 2016, to the federal electoral authority.

Irmgard Griss

Irmgard Griss, the chairman of the commission of inquiry into the Causa Hypo Alpe Adria , decided in October 2015 to run as a candidate for the presidency, if she finds enough support from the population. On December 18, she announced her candidacy as an independent candidate at a press conference. She financed her election campaign from donations through the support association she founded for this purpose. Griss was invited to a hearing by NEOS and the FPÖ. While the FPÖ then tended to rule out support, NEOS party chairman Matthias Strolz announced that he would offer Griss platforms and support them in an advisory, but not financially, manner. On March 8, 2016, International Women's Day , Griss announced that she was the first candidate to secure her position in the election.

Norbert Hofer

The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) presented on 28 January 2016 the Third Speaker of Parliament Norbert Hofer as candidates for the presidential election. Originally, Ursula Stenzel , the former ÖVP district head of the first district in Vienna, who switched to the FPÖ in connection with the Vienna election in 2015 , should have been nominated as the FPÖ's presidential candidate. However, since she polarized too much in FPÖ party circles, Norbert Hofer was asked. However, he had initially rejected a candidacy because he felt too young for the office of Federal President. The FPÖ federal party executive was ultimately able to convince him of the candidacy.

Rudolf Hundstorfer

As expected, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) presented the then incumbent Minister of Social Affairs Rudolf Hundstorfer as a candidate on January 15, 2016. Previously, on the proposal of Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann , the party presidium had unanimously appointed Hundstorfer as a candidate. Hundstorfer resigned as Minister of Social Affairs on January 26, 2016, although this was not required by law; the federal government was restructured on the same day, which affected three of its SPÖ members.

Andreas Khol

It was generally expected that Lower Austrian Governor Erwin Pröll would run for the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). Since Pröll did not want to run until the end, the ÖVP presented Andreas Khol as a candidate for president on January 10, 2016. Khol was a member of the National Council for 23 years and its president for four years . Since September 20, 2005, Khol was chairman of the senior citizens' association . On January 14, 2016, in connection with his entry into the election campaign, he handed over this function to his previous deputy, Ingrid Korosec .

Richard Lugner

Richard Lugner already stood as a candidate for the federal presidential election in 1998 and received 9.91% of the votes at that time.

On January 29, 2016, Lugner announced his candidacy in a YouTube video together with his then wife Cathy Lugner . Lugner was reported to the public prosecutor's office during the phase of collecting declarations of support by the federal electoral authority in the Ministry of the Interior , as he had distributed free cinema tickets for signing declarations of support, in which the authority suspected a criminal offense. The following day, Lugner ended the campaign due to the unclear legal situation. The public prosecutor finally dropped the proceedings, as it was not a criminal offense to give consideration (cinema tickets) for the handing over of declarations of support.

Alexander Van der Bellen

Alexander Van der Bellen announced his candidacy on January 8, 2016 via a YouTube video. Van der Bellen officially ran as an independent candidate and not as a party candidate for the Greens, from whom he was supported. In addition to personal support, he has also received financial support from the Greens. NEOS announced that it would support Van der Bellen in a similar way to Irmgard Griss.

Parliamentary parties without candidates

NEOS

The NEOS - The New Austria decided to set up a candidate for the presidential election 2016th However, a (non-financial) contribution will be made to the success of Irmgard Griss' non-partisan candidacy. In February, NEOS, like Griss before, invited Van der Bellen to a hearing. In March, party leader Matthias Strolz announced that NEOS were not averse to both candidates, but preferred Irmgard Griss. The evening after the first ballot, Strolz gave his “clear preference” for Van der Bellen, who had come into the runoff election.

Team Stronach

The Stronach team wanted to decide on a possible candidate in January 2016, but did not nominate any person for candidacy.

Known people who wanted to run for office

The following people announced their candidacy, but did not submit a legally valid nomination to the federal electoral authority:

  • El Awadalla , most recently candidate in the state and municipal council elections in Vienna 2015 for the political alliance Vienna different ; reached around 5,400 declarations of support according to its own information.
  • Robert Marschall , party chairman of the EU exit party . Although he had submitted an election proposal on time, he had not reached the required number of declarations of support within the three-day grace period, which meant that it was not considered to have been submitted.
  • Martin Wabl failed in his fourth attempt after 1998, 2004 and 2010 due to insufficient declarations of support.

Election campaign

Polls before the first ballot

Polls before the first ballot
Institute Respondents publication Griss Hofer Hundstorfer Khol Liar Van der Bellen
meinungsraum.at 600 April 19, 2016 24% 22% 14% 9% 5% 26%
OGM 889 April 18, 2016 22% 24% 15% 11% 3% 25%
Gallup 400 April 13, 2016 20% 24% 16% 11% 3% 26%
Hajek 700 April 8, 2016 19% 24% 14% 12% 4% 27%
OGM 1013 April 8, 2016 21% 22% 17% 13% 2% 24%
Unique research 429 April 7, 2016 18% 23% 14% 12% 4% 29%
Gallup 400 April 7, 2016 21% 23% 14% 12% 4% 26%
Spectra 1000 March 24, 2016 20% 21% 14% 13% 3% 29%
SORA 1000 March 24, 2016 19% 21% 14% 13% 3% 30%
Gallup 400 March 24, 2016 19% 21% 17% 13% 5% 25%

Polls before the second ballot

Institute Respondents publication Hofer Van der Bellen I do not know
Gallup 600 May 12, 2016 53% 47% -
MindTake Research 505 May 10, 2016 36.6% 33.5% 29.9%
Gallup 400 April 29, 2016 50% 50% -

Due to the large discrepancy between the polls before the first ballot and its actual result, some daily or free newspapers had decided not to publish any more polls before the second ballot. These included, for example, Der Standard or Today . Die Presse wanted to publish a maximum of a small report and a critical analysis . However, the tabloids Kronen Zeitung and Austria announced that they would continue to publish surveys until the second ballot. In the end, only the newspaper Austria published further surveys.

Polls before repeating the second round of voting

Institute Respondents publication Hofer Van der Bellen I do not know
Unique research 957 17th November 2016 49% 51% -
Gallup 800 17th November 2016 52% 48% -
Gallup 800 4th November 2016 51% 49% -
Akonsult 607 3rd November 2016 52% 48% -
Gallup 800 October 22, 2016 51% 49% -
Gallup 800 October 6, 2016 50% 50% -
Gallup 800 September 24, 2016 51% 49% -
Gallup 800 15th September 2016 51% 49% -
Gallup 600 September 8, 2016 52% 48% -
Unique research 800 September 8, 2016 49% 51% -
Hajek 700 2nd September 2016 49% 51% -
Gallup 600 August 24, 2016 53% 47% -
Gallup 600 11th August 2016 52% 48% -
Gallup 600 July 28, 2016 52% 48% -
Gallup 600 July 6, 2016 51% 49% -
meinungsraum.at 600 July 6, 2016 37% 37% 26%

TV confrontations

Due to the large number of candidates, new forms of presentation of the candidates were adopted, especially on ORF television. On April 14, two-person confrontations of 15 minutes each were broadcast by all candidates (with the exception of Richard Lugner) in the program The 2 in conversation . The moderators were Tarek Leitner and Marie-Claire Zimmermann . On April 21, 2016, all candidates were asked about their points of view in a program moderated by Ingrid Thurnher , a so-called " Elephant Round ".

In the election campaign before the runoff election, on May 14, 2016, there was a TV format by the station ATV in which both candidates were placed in a room without a presenter and were supposed to interview each other there themselves. This resulted in aggressive disputes on a personal level, which caused an international stir. Analysts spoke of “mud catching”; A significant part of the encounter was made up of allegations of what each other's supporters had posted in the form of insults on social networks. At a further, moderated meeting five days later on ORF, both candidates tried to appear much more statesmanlike.

Resignation and successor of the Federal Chancellor

As a result of the poor result of the SPÖ candidate in the first ballot, there were intense discussions in the party about Werner Faymann as chancellor and party leader. On May 9, 2016, he announced with immediate effect that he would resign both from the office of Federal Chancellor and as chairman of the SPÖ, as he lacked the necessary full support in the party for the essential restart of the government.

Federal President Heinz Fischer entrusted Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner with the interim continuation of government affairs. The SPÖ entrusted the mayor and governor of Vienna Michael Häupl provisionally with the party chairmanship until the party congress in June 2016.

The board of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) agreed on May 12, 2016 on Christian Kern , who had already been proposed as head of the SPÖ and government several times, and was previously chairman of the board of ÖBB- Holding AG , as his successor in the office of Federal Chancellor and in the role of party chairman. On May 17, 2016, Kern was sworn in as Federal Chancellor by Federal President Heinz Fischer.

Results

First ballot

Overall result

First round of the 2016 federal presidential election
35.05%
21.34%
18.94%
11.28%
11.12%
2.26%
Hofer Van der Bellen Griss Hundstorfer Khol Liar

The turnout was 68.5% (without postal votes from the voting cards : 60.0%) and was thus 14.9 percentage points higher than in 2010 (53.6%) . The final official final result was determined by the federal electoral authority on May 2, 2016 and then announced with an announcement.

In the second ballot - the runoff on May 22, 2016 - the two candidates with the highest percentage of votes from the first ballot could be elected: Norbert Hofer from the FPÖ and the formally independent and Green-backed Alexander Van der Bellen.

Official final result: electoral statistics
number proportion of number proportion of
without postal voting with postal voting
Eligible voters 6,382,507 6,382,507
voter turnout 59.99% 68.50%
Votes cast 3,828,696 4,371,825
• of which valid 3,744,396 97.80% 4,279,170 97.88%
• of which invalid 84,300 2.20% 92,655 2.12%

The total sums of the valid votes cast on the candidate (election sums) published with the announcement of April 24th :

candidate valid votes proportion of
Norbert Hofer 1,499,971 35.05%
Alexander Van der Bellen 913.218 21.34%
Irmgard Griss 810.641 18.94%
Rudolf Hundstorfer 482.790 11.28%
Andreas Khol 475,767 11.12%
Richard Lugner 96,783 2.26%

Federal state results

Official final result: results by federal state
state Irmgard
Griss 		Norbert
Hofer 		Rudolf
Hundstorfer 		Andreas
Khol 		Richard
Lugner 		Alexander
Van der Bellen 		Valid
votes
number % number % number % number % number % number % total
Burgenland 21,870 12.44% 73,676 41.90% 30.802 17.52% 22,910 13.03% 3,317 1.89% 23,278 13.24% 175,853
Carinthia 65,400 22.92% 110,776 38.83% 38.714 13.57% 19,782 6.93% 9,704 3.40% 40,934 14.35% 285.310
Lower Austria 168.148 17.47% 342,568 35.59% 114,577 11.90% 136,697 14.20% 26,064 2.71% 174,569 18.13% 962.623
Upper Austria 131.013 17.47% 263,487 35.13% 88,419 11.79% 99,432 13.26% 14,259 1.90% 153,436 20.46% 750.046
Salzburg 47,856 17.97% 99,476 37.35% 26,200 9.84% 35,038 13.15% 6,054 2.27% 51,735 19.42% 266.359
Styria 143.176 21.76% 255.552 38.84% 67,945 10.33% 63,866 9.71% 13,511 2.05% 113,877 17.31% 657.927
Tyrol 59,372 19.24% 109,552 35.51% 18,796 6.09% 38,969 12.63% 6,660 2.16% 75,190 24.37% 308,539
Vorarlberg 35,229 24.06% 43,951 30.01% 6,307 4.31% 15,446 10.55% 3,083 2.11% 42,434 28.98% 146,450
Vienna 138,577 19.09% 200,933 27.67% 91.030 12.54% 43,627 6.01% 14,131 1.95% 237.765 32.75% 726.063
Austria 810.641 18.94% 1,499,971 35.05% 482.790 11.28% 475,767 11.12% 96,783 2.26% 913.218 21.34% 4,279,170

Majority distributions (graphical)

Second ballot (repealed)

Second
(repealed)
ballot for
BPW 2016
50.35%
49.65%
Van der
Bellen 		Hofer

The second ballot was canceled by the Constitutional Court (VfGH) after violations of the electoral law in the handling of postal votes and because the first results were published too early on election day before the election deadline; re-election was ordered. The following values ​​therefore no longer represent a valid election result.

The turnout in the second ballot was 72.75% (without postal votes from the ballot cards : 60.75%) and was thus 4.25 percentage points higher than in the first ballot with 68.50% .

Voting cards

The election date for the runoff election was May 22, 2016, and voting cards for this ballot could be requested until May 18, midnight. With the "Official ballot for the second ballot" contained therein, postal votes could not be used until May 3rd at the earliest. The sealed voting cards had to arrive at the electoral authority by 5 p.m. on May 22nd or could be handed in at any polling station in Germany on election day.

With 885,437 voting cards, 38,931 of them to Austrian nationals abroad, the highest number to date was issued in nationwide elections, of which the electoral authority received 766,076 votes. This corresponds to a postal voter turnout of 86.5%. Of these, 746,110 were valid (97.4%, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points compared to the first ballot with 98.5).

Ballot

Only those votes were valid that were cast for the candidates selected for the “shortlist” ( § 18 BPäsWG), Norbert Hofer and Alexander Van der Bellen. Since the preliminary official final result without the postal votes was very close (Hofer: 51.93%, + 15.88% to the official final result in the first ballot; Van der Bellen: 48.07%, + 26.73%) and the number the voting cards were very high, there was still no winner on election evening. With a count of the last published 99.8 percent of the votes (excluding postal votes), the last SORA / ORF extrapolation on the evening of the election indicated a tie of around 50 percent for the two applicants. The postal votes were also extrapolated based on experience from the first round. The resulting fluctuation range of 0.7 percent with a possible gap of around 31,300 votes between the two candidates, however, did not allow a clear forecast.

Due to the tight result on election day, the provisional official final result could only be announced by the Minister of the Interior after the postal votes had been counted on May 23 at 16:43: Norbert Hofer, the winner of the first ballot, received 2,223,458 of the valid votes, that is 49.65% (postal vote: 285,706; 38.3%; + 12.7 percentage points compared to 1st flat share). Alexander Van der Bellen emerged from the runoff election with 2,254,484 valid votes and 50.35% (postal vote: 460,404; 61.7%; + 33.7 percentage points), his lead over Hofer was ultimately 31,026 votes.

Alexander Van der Bellen thus became Federal President-elect.

The election analyzes showed that Hofer achieved its majorities in many rural districts and that Van der Bellen was able to score points in urban conurbations and also won the eight state capitals.

Invalid voting cards, corrections of input errors

According to some reports, around 46,800 of them were invalid when the postal voting cards of the second ballot were counted and were not allowed to be counted. For 37,065 voting cards, this was the case because the voters forgot to sign the voting card envelope. In addition, 2,998 voting cards were sent before the deadline set for this, i.e. before May 3, 2016, and could therefore not be counted as postal votes.

Due to the correction of input errors in the computer system of the Ministry of the Interior, the gap between Alexander Van der Bellen and Norbert Hofer decreased from 31,026 valid votes from the preliminary final result announced on May 23 to 30,863 valid votes from the official final result announced on June 1.

Overall result

Official final result: electoral statistics
number proportion of number proportion of
without postal voting with postal voting
Eligible voters 6,382,507 6,382,507
voter turnout 60.75% 72.75%
Votes cast 3,877,078 4,637,046
• of which valid 3,731,832 96.25% 4,472,171 96.44%
• of which invalid 145.246 3.75% 164,875 3.56%

Below are the total sums of the valid votes cast on the two candidates (polls) published with the official final result:

candidate valid votes proportion of
Alexander Van der Bellen 2,251,517 50.35%
Norbert Hofer 2,220,654 49.65%

Federal state results

Official final result: results by federal state
state Alexander
Van der Bellen 		Norbert
Hofer 		Valid
votes
number % number % total
Burgenland 67,249 38.57% 107.128 61.43% 174,377
Carinthia 122,299 41.90% 169,564 58.10% 291,863
Lower Austria 459,655 47.35% 511.010 52.65% 970.665
Upper Austria 397.119 51.32% 376,647 48.68% 773.766
Salzburg 129,569 47.20% 144.938 52.80% 274.507
Styria 297,400 43.78% 381.955 56.22% 679.355
Tyrol 179.281 51.39% 169,587 48.61% 348,868
Vorarlberg 100,777 58.59% 71,217 41.41% 171.994
Vienna 498.168 63.32% 288,608 36.68% 786.776
Austria 2,251,517 50.35% 2,220,654 49.65% 4,472,171

Majority distributions (graphical)

Challenge of the second ballot

On June 8, the FPÖ chairman Heinz-Christian Strache, as authorized recipient of the candidate Norbert Hofer, represented by the former FPÖ minister of justice and lawyer Dieter Böhmdorfer , submitted a 152-page complaint to the Constitutional Court (VfGH), the deficiencies in the implementation of the second ballot should show. Hofer himself and an unnamed citizen joined the election contestation. Hofer's application was rejected by the Constitutional Court because, as an applicant, he himself cannot contest the election result, and that of the other applicant because a person entitled to vote does not have this right either.

Justification of the challenge

According to the appeal complaint, there were irregularities in the counting of postal votes in 94 of 117 district election offices.

According to the daily newspaper Kurier , Strache's allegations (based on the appeal complaint) included the following points:

  • 573,275 voting cards were pre-sorted into void and counting cards,
  • opened early concerns 120,067 votes,
  • withdrawn early 80,953 votes,
  • counted early 30,295 votes,
  • unauthorized - i.e. without a commission - 58,374 votes.

According to Robert Stein , the head of the electoral department in the Federal Ministry of the Interior , pre-sorting for registration at the district electoral authority is permissible as long as the stacks can be checked again by the commission.

Reactions

Political voices

Federal Chancellor Christian Kern already warned of “ conspiracy theories ” before contesting the election , while Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner regretted the “technical inadequacies” at the polls. SPÖ club boss Andreas Schieder criticized the "many sloppy mistakes", but also emphasized that although they had no effect on the outcome of the election, they did on the mood.

International press review

The reaction of the German-speaking foreign press ranged from "dismay to amusement". The Berlin daily, for example, sums up: “For the FPÖ, the lawsuit is definitely worthwhile. If the Constitutional Court decides for them, the election is repeated. If Hofer and his impresario Heinz-Christian Strache lose, they can complain about a new conspiracy. ”Similar to the Mannheimer Morgen : “ No matter what the verdict is: The FPÖ will be the victim. ”Meret Baumann also criticized the challenge of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung when it writes that it corresponds to “the tactics of the FPÖ to stir up doubts. She is posing as a victim and the only party that stands outside a corrupted power system. As transparent as this is, it does catch on with the regular voters, as the reactions in the social networks since the election show. ”At the same time, however, she welcomed the review by the VfGH in order to dispel doubts. The Süddeutsche Zeitung also welcomed the VfGH review: “Even if you don't like the party's habitus and you can't understand its complaint that you played along with it, the step that the FPÖ took on Wednesday is still correct and important. In this way, on the one hand, the conspiracy theorists get the wind out of their sails. The rule of law also shows that it takes critics seriously. ”(Quoted from News. ) Carsten Luther and Florian Gasser also made clear statements in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit when they stated:“ By contesting the election of the Federal President in Austria, the FPÖ brings the message to the people: Victory has been stolen from us. And it has even higher goals. ”Norbert Mappes-Niediek from the Südwest Presse stated that the FPÖ is not concerned with uncovering alleged irregularities, but with spreading its worldview, which says that there is a“ truth behind the truth ”and " Lying press and partisan officials" had "agreed behind closed doors and covered everything up". Functionaries of the FPÖ themselves would “find it particularly easy to deal creatively with rules”.

Opinions from constitutional lawyers

Heinz Mayer said in the ORF news program ZIB 2 that, in view of the extensive allegations of the Freedom Party, the VfGH will hardly be able to make a decision (legally: a finding) in the four weeks. Bernd-Christian Funk estimated the chances of successful contestation as rather low, because "the number and severity of the illegality should not be sufficient to undo the choice". Theo Öhlinger found two of the objections, namely the failure to count votes by the entire electoral commission and the early publication of the interim results, to be taken very seriously. If this goes in the direction of 30,000 affected votes, the election will probably be repeated. Klaus Poier said that if the allegations were true that people who did not belong to the electoral commission had counted votes on a large scale, there was no way around repeating the election. The Constitutional Court has to clarify openly and precisely whether this is also the case.

The former VfGH President Ludwig Adamovich emphasized in the ZIB 2 interview on June 20, 2016, without wishing to make a prognosis, the strict judicature of the Court of Justice with regard to regulations intended to ensure the independence of the electoral process. He could hardly imagine a deviation from this. In the event of repeal, a nationwide new election is not mandatory, but the argument that individual voters could receive a second vote in the event of a limited re-election has some advantages.

Repeal of the second ballot

Procedure
The Constitutional Court - here on a trial day in the electoral contesting procedure - ordered the repeat of the runoff election on July 1, 2016.

The Constitutional Court scheduled a public hearing from June 20 to 23, 2016 to question 90 people, mainly members of district electoral authorities. These were questioned by the constitutional judges and representatives of the two run-off candidates. A knowledge of the election contestation was planned within the legally stipulated period of four weeks and thus no later than July 6th, two days before Van der Bellen's planned inauguration. The federal electoral authority in the Ministry of the Interior saw no reason to repeat the election in their reply. According to the records available to her on the postal ballot counting, all 113 district electoral authorities had proceeded correctly, there were no indications of manipulation, and presorting the voting cards was not illegal.

In its statement, the association, Together for Van der Bellen, assumed that the will of the voters would be unadulterated in the results announced. In addition, a request was made, in deviation from previous practice, to use the postal ballot paper of 17 electoral districts, which could be in doubt, to check whether manipulation had actually taken place and whether any deficiencies had an influence on the election result. Finally, in the unlikely case of relevant unlawful acts, it was suggested that the election should only be repeated for postal votes and here only in the affected districts.

Ruling by the Constitutional Court

After conducting oral interviews and negotiations, the Constitutional Court granted the election challenge on July 1, 2016 and ordered the repetition of the second ballot (the runoff election) throughout Austria.

In the oral justification, Gerhart Holzinger, as President of the Constitutional Court, stated that various formal provisions of the electoral law were not complied with. On the one hand, in 14 of the 20 electoral districts named in the 152-page election contest, in which a total of 77,926 postal votes were cast, there were irregular counting processes, such as opening the envelopes too early, removing and sorting the ballot papers too early, as well as counting by unauthorized persons. The Constitutional Court could not find any evidence that manipulations actually occurred, but this was according to the constant case law of the Constitutional Court (based on an election suspension with prior oral witness questioning in 1927, since an election file was illegally opened again) not necessary for the cancellation of the election in view of the illegality, the possibility is sufficient. At the same time, however, the VfGH expressly stated that none of the witnesses heard saw evidence of actual manipulation. Since the voters who cast their votes by postal vote are not listed separately in the electoral register and do not form their own electoral district, the election cannot only be repeated in limited numbers. Accordingly, the election must be carried out again in the entire federal territory. The mathematicians Erich Neuwirth and Walter Schachermayer have also provided statistical evidence that it is highly unlikely that the affected “contaminated” votes actually led to a reversal of the election result.

On the other hand, the federal electoral authority passed on the first results “to selected recipients, in particular to the media and research institutes”, from around 1 p.m. on election day and thus before the last polling stations closed at 5 p.m. on the dot. According to the VfGH, there is no regulation that prevents the dissemination of partial election results before the election deadline. However, the VfGH evaluates this practice of "systematic dissemination of partial election results", which has been practiced for decades by the highest electoral authorities in Austria for the purposes of extrapolation on the evening of the election to the ORF , not only in the second ballot in question for the federal presidential election, but in all different corporate and direct elections in Austria and to the Austria Press Agency (APA) as well as to third parties (in addition to selected media also to the campaigning parties) by setting a so-called "blocking period", as potentially influencing the election, because: "The voter must not be influenced in his election" as well as: "This non-election could have an influence on the election result." For this reason alone - and regardless of the violations of law described above - the VfGH recognized that the ballot had to be repeated.

Although the members of the VfGH were aware of the practice of prematurely disseminating partial results, Holzinger emphasized that they were asked whether the knowledge would also affect other elections that the VfGH “can only judge errors that are brought to us ".

Press reactions

Robert Misik judged in the Spiegel that it was a “bizarre triumph of the rule of law”, since there was demonstrably no manipulation and “only the formal legal detail area was neglected”. The standards of the Constitutional Court are "alien to life and largely impractical". In addition, the election assessors of the FPÖ had not fulfilled their duty of control, since they had "signed the correctness of all processes" and then revoked this. For Cathrin Kahlweit from the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the judges showed that Austria was “not a banana republic” and that “paradoxically” was the merit of the FPÖ, which “fueled disaffection with politics” and “tolerated hate speech”. From a constitutional state “those who despise it also benefit”, writes Stephan Hebel in the Frankfurter Rundschau and states that this should also give many FPÖ voters something to think about. He now sees the duty of both Brussels and German politicians to “change the EU and Europe in order to defend it” and not “to be guilty of the next triumph of right-wing populism”. Julia Ortner , on the other hand, states in the News that the FPÖ is no longer primarily concerned with winning the office of Federal President, but has "already achieved its highest goal in the great staging of the fight for the Hofburg", namely "trust in to fundamentally shake the state and its institutions. "

Consequence: redial and interim collegial body

At the suggestion of the Federal Government , on July 8, 2016, in agreement with the Main Committee of the National Council, the date of the re-election was set for October 2, 2016. The swearing-in of the newly elected Federal President (Hofer or Van der Bellen) before the Federal Assembly should take place in the week from November 28 to December 2, 2016.

Until then, in accordance with the Federal Constitutional Act (B-VG), the three Presidents of the National Council, Doris Bures (SPÖ), Karlheinz Kopf (ÖVP) and Norbert Hofer, who was also running for the presidency, had the official business of the since the end of Heinz Fischer's term on July 8, 2016 to lead the Federal President's “permanent job”.

Prosecution by public prosecutor

In view of the irregularities in the counting of votes after the presidential election, the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA) is investigating members of 20 municipal and district electoral authorities. Based on a complaint from the Interior Ministry after the election was challenged. Specifically, it is accused “that postal voting envelopes were opened and the ballot papers checked and counted without the presence of assessors”. In spite of the illegal events, the assessors had confirmed that the procedure was legally correct in several cases. This means that both the allegation of abuse of office and the "false certification in office" are in the room.

Redial (of the run-off)

Official ballot for the canceled repetition of the second ballot on October 2, 2016

The repetition of the runoff election was scheduled for October 2, 2016, and postal ballot papers and posters were sent out at the end of August 2016. In order to carry out the runoff election, the company kbprintcom.at produced 9.2 million ballot papers and 1.5 million voting cards . The voting cards consist of a sealable envelope with a length of 281 mm and a width of 216 mm into which the ballot papers have to be inserted in another envelope. The personal data of those entitled to vote, especially their handwritten signature, are covered by a lockable flap on the voting card.

Around 50,000 electoral officers are required in the polling station for the election. Election assessors are generally in office for five years, but can be exchanged if they are unable to attend on election day. Only in some municipalities is a meal paid per election campaign, in some “a small financial compensation”. Wiener Neustadt pays around 25 euros and a small snack , St. Pölten even 12 euros per hour of attendance.

The President of the Association of Municipalities, Helmut Mödlhammer, feared that the re-election would result in additional costs for the municipalities. In order for the Ministry of the Interior to be able to cover the costs of the community for the assessors, it would need a change in the law especially in the event of a repeat election. E-learning training for election assessors should be available in September.

Postponement of the repetition of the runoff election

Official election information from the City of Vienna on the repeat of the runoff election on October 2nd, delivered on September 12th, already invalid on September 12th, according to media reports

On September 2, it was rumored that some of the postal voting documents sent contained errors. These were some of the voting card envelopes that had stuck spots on them. It was reported below that this circumstance could lead to the postal votes cast in such envelopes having to be declared invalid.

As defective voting cards increased in the days that followed, Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka announced on September 12 that the election date would be postponed. On September 12, the club chairmen agreed to postpone the election to December 4, 2016. Since the possibility of a postponement is not regulated according to the current legal situation, the postponement was ordered in an amendment to the Federal Presidential Election Act by repealing the corresponding ordinance of the federal government and setting the new date by means of a constitutional provision. The request was lodged on 13 September from the club shop stewards Andreas Schieder (SPÖ), Reinhold Lopatka (ÖVP), Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek (The Greens) and Matthias Strolz (NEOS) in the National Assembly introduced and referred to the constitutional committee it on 15 Approved September with minor changes. On September 21, the National Council passed a corresponding resolution, and on September 23, the Federal Council decided not to raise any objection. With the signing by the President of the National Council, the countersignature by the Chancellor and the announcement in the Federal Law Gazette on September 26, the decision became legally binding.

In July 2017, the printing company kbprintcom.at, which was responsible for the faulty envelopes, had to pay EUR 500,000 in damages to the Republic of Austria.

Cathrin Kahlweit described the postponement of the repetition in the SZ as a “disaster” and “ Uhu Gate”. Kate Connolly of the Guardian wrote of "another embarrassment" and quoted Heinz-Christian Strache, who had spoken of a "conspiracy" and a "tactical maneuver". Due to the length of the process, the slogan “Election of the Federal President 2016–2019: I was there!”, Which was meanwhile offered on T-shirts, was chosen as the slogan of the year by the Research Center for Austrian German .

Change in eligibility to vote

Voters who were not entitled to vote or to the first runoff were also allowed to repeat the runoff election. With the amendment to the electoral law, all those persons should be registered as eligible to vote who would have reached at least the age of 16 on the expected election day December 4, 2016.

Renewed extension of the deadline

The deadline for entries in the electoral roll as well as in the electoral registers of Austrians abroad, originally set as September 27, 2016, was extended to October 27, 2016 in view of the postponement of the runoff re-election.

Change of postal voting envelope

Wolfgang Peschorn , Head of the Financial Procuratorate , announced on September 16, 2016 that the voting card order should not be re-awarded, but that kbprintcom.at should be obliged to deliver a replacement. The planned law now requires the type of voting card that was used between 1990 and 2009. However, kbprintcom.at does not have a production line for this and is allowed to use a sub-supplier. kbprintcom.at specializes in continuous paper, office printed matter and government printing. Kbprintcom.at took over the area of ​​official printing in the course of the privatization of the state printing company, which now comes into question as the production of subcontractors.

The claim for damages for the costs of postponing the election to kbprint as the supplier of the defective voting cards will be checked. Forensically, the cause of the failure of the splices of the continuous printing voting cards is searched. The new President of the Court of Auditors, Margit Kraker , announced an examination of the mishaps surrounding the postponement of the runoff election after the election. The election could again be observed by the OSCE. It was discussed in the media that the company kbprintcom.at posted losses in its last balance sheet (financial year 2014/2015, ran until January 31, 2015).

Result of repeating the second ballot

Result of the
runoff election on
December 4th
53.79%
46.21%
Van der
Bellen 		Hofer
Hofer and Van der Bellen on the announcement of the preliminary results

When the runoff election was repeated on December 4, turnout had increased further and stood at 74.21%, compared to 72.75% when the runoff election was canceled in May. Alexander Van der Bellen was able to increase his share of the vote to 53.79%, while his opponent Norbert Hofer lost both percentage points and votes compared to the election in May. He received 46.21% of the valid votes.

Overall result

Official final result: electoral statistics
number proportion of number proportion of
without postal voting with postal voting
Eligible voters 6,399,607 6,399,607
voter turnout 64.56% 74.21%
Votes cast 4,131,800 4,749,339
• of which valid 3,991,451 96.60% 4,597,553 96.80%
• of which invalid 140.349 3.40% 151.786 3.20%

Below are the total sums of the valid votes cast on the two candidates (polls) published with the official final result:

candidate valid votes proportion of
Alexander Van der Bellen 2,472,892 53.79%
Norbert Hofer 2,124,661 46.21%

Federal state results

Compared to the repealed runoff election, Van der Bellen was able to gain in all federal states and once again won the eight state capitals for itself. Salzburg and Lower Austria, which in May still voted for Norbert Hofer by majority, went to Alexander Van der Bellen in the repeat election.

Majorities by federal state
Official final result: results by federal state
state Alexander
Van der Bellen 		Norbert
Hofer 		Valid
votes
number % number % total
Burgenland 73,581 41.87% 102.147 58.13% 175,728
Carinthia 139.276 45.41% 167,425 54.59% 306.701
Lower Austria 498,849 50.66% 485,874 49.34% 984.723
Upper Austria 440.631 55.27% 356.619 44.73% 797.250
Salzburg 146.616 51.97% 135,483 48.03% 282.099
Styria 325.960 47.26% 363.778 52.74% 689.738
Tyrol 201.160 54.69% 166,650 45.31% 367.810
Vorarlberg 113.122 62.53% 67,791 37.47% 180.913
Vienna 533.697 65.68% 278,894 34.32% 812,591
Austria 2,472,892 53.79% 2,124,661 46.21% 4,597,553

Majority distributions (graphical)

Other effects

The elections for the Austrian Word of the Year 2016 and its subsidiary categories were dominated by the election of the Federal President - four out of five winners related directly or indirectly to it:

  • Word of the year: Postponement of the federal presidential election repeat election
  • Word of the year: Öxit
  • Slogan of the year: "Federal President Election 2016-2019: I was there!"
  • Unsprung of the year: “You will still be amazed at what is possible!” - Norbert Hofer

For the FPÖ, party attorney Dieter Böhmdorfer brought a lawsuit against the Republic of Austria in 2018 for EUR 3.4 million in damages for the election campaign costs that it had incurred through the second round of elections, which it had reached through its election challenge. The action was dismissed in the first instance by the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Law Matters and also by the Vienna Higher Regional Court as a court of appeal. The Freedom Party pursued its action on and carried her by the appeal of revision before the Supreme Court , which did not give this in the April 2020 episode.

As a result of the re-election, the municipalities, states and the federal government incurred additional costs of at least EUR 8.47 million. The Republic of Austria therefore demanded damages of 36,000 euros each from 18 election officers. Two election officers paid the amount, and lawsuits were brought against the other 16.

See also

literature

  • Robert Stein : Right to vote: Postal voting, deadlines, exclusion. On October 1, 2011, the Electoral Law Amendment Act 2011 came into force. Among other things, it brings innovations to postal voting and reasons for exclusion from voting. In: Public Safety , Issue 11–12 / 2011, Federal Ministry of the Interior (Ed.), Vienna 2011, pp. 89–91 ( PDF; 138 KB ).
  • Karin Stöger : Head or Representative? The position of the Federal President in the Austrian political system. Series of learning modules for political education. Democracy Center Vienna (Ed.), February 2016 ( PDF; 356 KB ).

Legal bases

Web links

Commons : Election of the Federal President in Austria 2016  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Note: The colors used here are based on the official color scheme of the graphic preparation BM.I application of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), as it is also in the graphic implementation of BP Austria 2016 in the Wiener Zeitung ( WZ) are adopted in the first and second ballot. (With the exception of Irmgard Griss, where the WZ has replaced the official white with the gray tone.) Retrieved in April and May 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Federal President election 2016 - repetition of the 2nd ballot - final overall result, including postal votes. Federal Ministry of the Interior, December 4, 2016, accessed on December 4, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b Note: On request, the federal electoral authority received the “official ballot papers for the second ballot” by postal vote - in accordance with Section 11 Paragraph 3 i. V. m. Annex 6 BPäsWG with an empty name field for the elected candidate - already sent to the eligible voters with the voting cards for the first ballot.
  4. ↑ Final result on the website of the Federal Ministry of the Interior
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Comments on the repeal of the "Habsburg Paragraph"

  1. ↑ Cf. Robert Stein (long-time head of the Electoral Affairs department (III / 6) in the Ministry of the Interior): Right to vote: postal voting, deadlines, exclusion. In: Public Safety, Issue 11–12 / 2011 (see lit. ), here p. 90:
    “… With this sentence of Art. 60 Para. 3 B-VG, the legislature of the 1920s wanted to prevent it from possibly becoming a restoration of the imperial house would come. The name 'Habsburg' does not appear in the legal text, however, and from a modern legal point of view, the constitutional norm that has now expired contains several 'indefinite legal terms'. The amendment to the Federal Constitutional Act and, as a result, the Federal Presidential Election Act 1972 was a political decision. For the federal electoral authority, however, it means more legal certainty in future federal elections, since in many cases it would have been unclear to them what a 'ruling house' is or what a 'family that previously ruled' actually is. "
  2. ↑ See Karin Stöger: Head or Representative? The position of the Federal President in the Austrian political system. February 2016 (see lit. ), in chapter: IV. Eligibility, p. 5:
    “… This was laid down in the constitution of 1920 in view of the recently collapsed monarchy, in view of the fears that had dominated politics in Austria for a long time about a return monarchical tendencies. A change in the form of government towards a monarchy via the detour of the republic through a member of the previously ruling family was thus to be prevented (see also Ermacora, 1998, p. 318). These fears persisted for a long time. Only with the 2011 Electoral Law Amendment Act (Federal Law Gazette I No. 43/2011) was this reason for exclusion from the election for the office of Federal President removed. "