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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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Austria’s Haus of Cards
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Oct 13, 2017 10:06pm |
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| Category | General |
| Author | Matthew Karnitschnig |
| News Date | Monday, October 9, 2017 10:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Austrian politics are rarely dull, but a dirty tricks scandal that exploded two weeks before next Sunday’s general election has left even battle-worn veterans of the country’s raucous campaigns stunned.
“This is without a doubt the dirtiest election campaign we have ever experienced,” said Eva Linsinger, politics editor at weekly Profil, which was first to uncover the details of the underhanded tactics.
The scandal began when it emerged that outside consultants working for Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats (SPÖ) were behind a racist Facebook campaign aimed at undermining his opponent, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). The Facebook pages distorted Kurz’s views on immigration and other issues and were laced with anti-Semitic innuendo.
The affair got murkier over the weekend after a consultant involved in the smear said that one of Kurz’s closest aides tried to lure him away from Kern’s campaign with a cash payoff totaling €100,000. The ÖVP denies the accusation.
Meanwhile, the two parties, which have governed together in a grand coalition for more than a decade, have besieged Austrian prosecutors with criminal complaints against each other, alleging everything from espionage to racial incitement.
The growing scandal has overshadowed the country’s most significant parliamentary campaign in nearly two decades. |
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