[Safe_Timber_Man]

A little taster of what we can expect after the EU Ref result comes in:

die5el, swansea, United Kingdom, 9 minutes ago
Off course this election was rigged. so will be the brexit referendum.
+50 -0

Ian Bell., Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 14 minutes ago
Postal votes are how they rig all elections. (that aren't yet computerised, cos that's toooo easy)
+40 -2

CyBrook, Wales, United Kingdom, 15 minutes ago
Rigging big is now perfected in Britain.... I feel helpless about the referendum... our only hope is that the Leave voters are numerically so massively large that cannot be rigged.
+36 -4

bigredtoe, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 35 minutes ago
You only have to consider what happens in the Eurovision song contest to realise rigging votes is the European way of winning.
+130 -6

PMOS, London, United Kingdom, 41 minutes ago
It probably was rigged, just like our referendum is. It's easier to rig it by 1% than 10% and get away with it.
+72 -2

David Ambler, London, United Kingdom, 47 minutes ago
There are dark and powerful forces operating to control the electoral outcomes in European affairs.
+81 -1

jimmy the one, welwyn garden city, 47 minutes ago
DM can you find if out if there is any truth in the story that the vote may have been rigged. We will be kept in the dark by all other media.
+61 -1

Well, they've taken the news well.

[Cyclist]

CyBrook, Wales, United Kingdom, 15 minutes ago
Rigging big is now perfected in Britain....

AUSTRIAN elections?

[Safe_Timber_Man]

I'm not sure they really know what just happened, where it happened or why it happened. They just know the Far Right didn't win something.

[The Red Arrow]

jimmy the one, welwyn garden city, 47 minutes ago
DM can you find if out if there is any truth in the story that the vote may have been rigged. We will be kept in the dark by all other media.

Like your favourite editor keeps you in the dark about his EU grant money, Jimmy?

[Safe_Timber_Man]

The Mail aren't exactly taking it very well either.

Although, they're just reporting what others are saying, of course...

[bluebellnutter]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/m ... ion-defeat" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here we go...

[The Weeping Angel]

Sadly it seems the far-right have suffered a temporary setback.

http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2016/0 ... n-austria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He felt that Hofer’s strong support could also be explained by a shift to the right among the Austrian public over the last few decades.

‘I don’t think the Freedom party has changed very much – I think the public has moved. The party’s views on foreigners have not changed. The public view on foreigners has changed. It is now acceptable to say the sorts of things about foreigners the Freedom party says.’

Immigration has so centrally defined Austrian public discourse over the past few years that people are constantly exposed to the Freedom party’s core message.
that Austria was ne
‘On the news there is nothing else. Refugees, migrants, migrants, Refugees. We have 90,000 asylum seekers in Austria, a very large number for such a small place and people are shocked and don’t know how to deal with it.

The Freedom party offers the most straightforward answer to this. Shut the borders and kick them all out. Some people want that simple answer.’

@Cyclist if you don't want people to vote for the far-right branding them cunts isn't the way to do it. Secondly I'll think you'll find that Austria was largely neutral during the Cold War.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I think you'll find that it was partitioned and occupied until 1955, and that the Austrian government, unlike the Germans, never made the attempt to examine and eradicate their past attitudes.
It was considered a victim of Nazi aggression and was allowed to follow a neutral path from 1955.

[Cyclist]

@Cyclist if you don't want people to vote for the far-right branding them cunts isn't the way to do it. Secondly I'll think you'll find that Austria was largely neutral during the Cold War.

I think some of this inability for many Austrians to see what cunts they are stems from American attitudes after the war, when Germany was EVIL! and poor little Austria was regarded as their innocent victim, and anyway, Austria was now in the front-line in the "fight" against the evil Commies so they're our friends. Which conveniently swept a lot of nastiness under the carpet.

@ LJB. Seem to miss or misunderstand what's actually written quite a lot don't you? Nearly 50% of those who voted in this election voted for the fascists. That's MANY Austrians. Or at least, it is to most thinking people. Secondly I'll point you to Malcolm's succinct history lesson above.

[The Weeping Angel]

But calling those many Austrians cunts isn't helpful at all, rather than examining why many Austrians felt compelled to vote for Norbert Hofer. People on this thread seem to be going for the well there just a bunch of racists argument. As that article I linked to pointed out many people who had previously considered themselves socialist voted for the Hofer. So we have to ask how can they be won back.

[bluebellnutter]

Court overturns Austria presidential poll result

Austria's highest court has annulled last month's presidential election narrowly lost by the right-wing candidate of the Freedom Party.
The party had challenged the result, saying that postal votes had been improperly handled.

The Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, lost the election to the former leader of the Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen, by less than a percentage point.

The election will now be re-run.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36681475" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[cycloon]

Oh goody.

Hey, loons! How's that rigging, going for you? How's that liberal democracy going, for you?

[The Weeping Angel]

Hofer has admitted defeat again

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38202669" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On Facebook, he described himself as "infinitely sad" and congratulated Alexander Van der Bellen, former head of the Greens, on his victory.
The elections had been seen as a sign of how well populist candidates might do in upcoming elections in the EU, though the post is ceremonial.
The result is sure to be welcomed by establishment parties and officials in the EU.

[Dan]

Having a brief look around and it seems like the attitude is either "stupid Austrians! Don't know their country like I do!", "fix!" or "Austria is gone".

Quite where it has gone, nobody knows. Its geographical co-ordinates appear to be the same as 24 hours ago.

[cycloon]

But the Great World Movement of Populist Fuckwittery must steam roll on!*

*with no regard for national differences given by people who usually are all about national differences, etc, minorities of populations dictating to the rest, etc.