Thread: Massive gains for anti-immigration parties at Austrian polls

Austria election delivers gains for far-Right
Austria's far-Right has become the country's most powerful political force in an election that gave mainstream parities their lowest level of support since the Second World War.


By Andreas Sam in Vienna and Bruno Waterfield
Last Updated: 9:10PM BST 28 Sep 2008

The country's two far-Right parties, which campaigned on anti-immigrant and anti-European Union platforms, took almost 30 per cent of the vote to deliver a stunning blow to Austria's political establishment.

The Freedom Party, headed by Heinz-Christian Strache, who was accused of xenophobia during the election campaign, took 18 per cent of the vote.

A new far-Right party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, founded by Jorg Haider, Mr Strache's former mentor before a 2005 split from the Freedom Party, won 11 per cent of the vote.

The election has been a catastrophe for Austria's moderate parties, with the centrist Social Democrats capturing only 29.5 percent and the conservative People's Party taking only 26 per cent of the vote.

Both parties, which have ruled Austria either alone or in coalition since the end of the Second World War, faced the worst election results in their history as their votes dropped under 30 per cent each for the first time.

Austrians went to the polls after a "grand coalition" between the Social Democrats and the People's Party collapsed after 18 months of a government that was paralysed by constant disputes and rifts.

Most Austrian commentators expect that the Social Democrats will try tod form a new government by either attempting to revive the grand coalition or by entering into a deal with the far-Right, a move that could provoke international condemnation.

Many Austrians still have bitter memories of the international isolation and pariah status Austria faced eight years ago, including European Union sanctions, when the far-Right Freedom Party - then led by Mr Haider - participated in a conservative coalition government.

Mr Strache, 39, has proved to be a popular figure with younger voters but he has been tainted by alleged links to the neo-Nazi scene, which he denies.

Mr Strache rose to prominence as the protégé of Mr Haider, 58, but fell out with him after a series of election defeats. The younger far-Right leader blamed Mr Haider for turning off nationalist voters by making compromises to form a coalition with the People's Party in 2000.

He has allegedly been pictured in his youth at militant gathering of far-Right groups dressed in uniforms and bearing guns.

After Mr Haider left the Freedom Party, Mr Strache has put it back on a hard-Right track, demanding a halt to immigration, a ministry for repatriating foreigners and the return of powers conceded to the EU.

Mr Strache has campaigned for a ban on Islamic dress which, he said, made women look like "female ninjas". He also seeks to overturn strict Austrian laws banning the display of Nazi symbols, such as the swastika.

Senior Freedom Party officials used the elections to mourn the days when immigration turned Austria's sausage stands into kebab shops and to lament the good old days when Austrians ate schnitzel instead of "falafel, couscous or whatever that stuff is called".

Austria introduced two constitutional novelties for the elections: the age limit for voting was lowered to 16 years, a move that might have benefited the far-Right, while the new parliament will be elected for five years instead of four.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Right.html

I certainly wish people in this o****ry would follow suit. If you are not satisfied with the two party choices, vote 3rd party. I told my mom I was voting for Chuck Baldwin, since I can't vote for Paul, and she told me I would be wasting my vote. I told her that is why we keep voting the same crap in every election time, because people are afraid to vote 3rd party.

We could still write in candidates, can't we?

But barring that, I am voting third party.

And I'm voting against anyone who is now in office, unless they have been very supportive of enforcing our immigration laws.

Can you imagine how it would feel to wake up the morning after the election and realize you had a President that did not belong to big business or to either side of the one party system?

Then imagine with that, we have a fairy new congress.

We just might have a chance.

I don't think a vote is ever wasted. It is true that has been the threat that both parties have held over our heads to keep us all tucked away in our corners.

Voting for either of the two main candidates is worse than a wasted vote. It is a validation of the harm they have already done and will do in the future.

Originally Posted by agrneydgrl

I certainly wish people in this o****ry would follow suit. If you are not satisfied with the two party choices, vote 3rd party. I told my mom I was voting for Chuck Baldwin, since I can't vote for Paul, and she told me I would be wasting my vote. I told her that is why we keep voting the same crap in every election time, because people are afraid to vote 3rd party.

Vote 3rd party. You are absolutely correct. Sometimes you have to lose to win. Next year if America is still America, we may have a chance to bring back the Constitution. Stronger than we have seen in decades.

Originally Posted by timeforchange

Originally Posted by agrneydgrl

I certainly wish people in this o****ry would follow suit. If you are not satisfied with the two party choices, vote 3rd party. I told my mom I was voting for Chuck Baldwin, since I can't vote for Paul, and she told me I would be wasting my vote. I told her that is why we keep voting the same crap in every election time, because people are afraid to vote 3rd party.

Vote 3rd party. You are absolutely correct. Sometimes you have to lose to win. Next year if America is still America, we may have a chance to bring back the Constitution. Stronger than we have seen in decades.

I totally agree with you timeforchange. It's time to really shake up Washington and I believe that there are alot of american's ready for a REAL change. Oh, and welcome aboard glad you found us!

I'M SO EXCITED TO HEAR THE NEWS FROM AUSTRIA! They're finally getting the huevos to stop the ISLAMIZATION of their country, like some in other European countries (like Netherlands) are trying to do! :P

*********************
timeforchange wrote:

Vote 3rd party. You are absolutely correct. Sometimes you have to lose to win. Next year if America is still America, we may have a chance to bring back the Constitution. Stronger than we have seen in decades.

I agree! You are absolutely correct. The only time you "throw away" your vote is when you choose not to give it to a candidate (which is sometimes the right thing to do).

But when you give it to a candidate, it isn't "lost"! It counts just the same as it would have if you gave it to the winner: it counts as exactly ONE VOTE! If your candidate doesn't win, it's because others didn't vote for him. If anybody else wins, it's because more people voted for him than for the others.

The reason a rotten politician gets elected isn't because you voted for a third party candidate; it's because a whole bunch of horse's asses voted for him!

Don't HESITATE to vote for Chuck Baldwin - look at his grade at NUMBERUSA:
http://www.numbersusa.com/content/
He's GREAT!

If we all spread out too thin it won't send as clear a message. I think write-ins will be all over the map!

There are some who have tried to associate the names Haider and Hitler. The name Haider is actually not German or Austrian Georg Haider's patrilineal like that of Kurt Waldheim originally the Slovak Walczak is foreign. Haider is a Bosnian Moslem immigrant surname though the subsequent marriages in Georg Haiders family and (thus most of his ancestors) were with Christians of German and other backgrounds.

Originally Posted by Lugundum

The Freedom Party, headed by Heinz-Christian Strache, who was accused of xenophobia during the election campaign, took 18 per cent of the vote.

Sounds like be a "nativist xenophobe" is a winner!

LUGUNDUM wrote:

Austria election delivers gains for far-Right
Austria's far-Right has become the country's most powerful political force in an election that gave mainstream parities their lowest level of support since the Second World War.

Here's a great YouTube video on this posted by a guy from the UK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erwUXCOjSWE

Related article.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-134781.html