The vote for the presidential election has been set. The seven well-known candidates – Michael Brunner, Gerald Grosz, Walter Rosenkranz, Heinrich Staudinger, Alexander Van der Bellen, Tassilo Wallentin, Dominik Wlazny – will stand for election on October 9. Three others were unable to submit the required 6,000 statements of support, even with a grace period. The Ministry of the Interior announced this on Wednesday after the meeting of the federal electoral authority.
The election proposals have already been announced – by posting them on the official ministry notice board and on the BMI website. This allows the ballots to be printed. The federal electoral authority did not have to deal with the issue of ballot ranking. In the presidential elections, candidates are ranked strictly in alphabetical order. Incumbent Van der Bellen, who is standing for re-election, is in the fifth row.
Fails the signature hurdle
Many private individuals or representatives of small parties also wanted to be on the ballot, but failed at the hurdle. Four of them nevertheless submitted their nominations. Three of them – the ones on “Mag. Robert Marschall”, “Wolfgang Ottowitz” and “Johann Peter Schutte” – but with too few statements of support, so that they were given a grace period until Tuesday midnight. Even then there was not enough time to collect the necessary signatures.
The nomination for “David Packer, BSc” was immediately classified as “not submitted”. The reason: his authorized recipient did not pay the legal fee of 3,600 euros, as announced by the Ministry of the Interior.
Ballot paper has record length
But even without another candidate, the selection with seven Hofburg candidates is bigger than ever. Only in the first direct elections in 1951 and in the previous elections in 2016 was the ballot paper nearly as long, with six candidates each.
The Ministry of the Interior has again set up a hotline for all questions about the Hofburg elections. Specially trained staff is available from September 8 to October 8 on 0800 20 22 20 (toll free) or +43 1 53126 2700 (from abroad). The call center is available from Monday to Friday between 08:00 and 17:00 and on Saturday, October 8 from 08:00 to 15:00.
Source: Krone
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