Austria – Two weeks after the presidential elections, the FPÖ – Freedom Party – filed a complaint which has been given to the Constitutional Court of Austria. According to the FPÖ, many irregularities and suspicions of fraud have been proven, which needs the case to be investigated by the supreme authority. The victory of the far-left ecologist Van der Bellen is at stake.
On May 22, Austria voted at the second round of the national elections to choose the federal president. The duel opposed Alexander Van der Bellen, a far-left ecologist, and Norbert Hofer, a member of the FPÖ, a populist national-liberal party. After a suspense of 24 hours, Alexander Van der Bellen won the presidential race.
But this is maybe not so sure yet. Several irregularities have been spotted, and on Wednesday, June 8, the FPÖ filed a complaint to the Constitutionnal Court on the last day for contestation of the votes. The file is made up of 150 pages, and compiles the data of 117 towns where suspicion merged about the votes.
The Constitutionnal Court will release its judgment over the case on July 6, two days before the planned intronisation as president of Alexander Van der Bellen. Lawyers of the populist party said they had found evidence that over 573,000 absentee and postal ballots had been handled without the presence of local election commissions, creating the risk of tampering. The difference between the two candidates was only 31,000 votes. “I think a re-election is very realistic,” said Strache, the president of the FPÖ. “We are not bad losers. Rather it is about the foundations of democracy, which must be secured,” he added. According to Strache, “the extent of irregularities is more than terrifying.” He also said that “without these irregularities Hofer could have become president.”
