Aftermath in Innsbruck

Incorrect election graphic leaves room for speculation

On election Sunday, people stared spellbound at the screens as the results were announced. Not everything that could be seen there was free of errors.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

The "Gerechtes Innsbruck" team around the eloquent list leader Gerald Depaoli submits an application to the main electoral authority for the municipal council and mayoral election for a results audit after viewing a false ORF election graphic. Only his application was received on time. Election challenges before the Constitutional Court are still possible. 

GR Gerald Depaoli recognizes a number of inconsistencies in the Innsbruck election on 14 April. He has therefore submitted an "application for a review of the determination of the election result" to the main electoral authority.

On election Sunday, people stared spellbound at the screens as the results were announced. Not everything that could be seen there was free of errors.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Incorrect ward results?
The main reason for this is a graphic from the city of Innsbruck, which was shown on ORF on the evening of the election on April 14. "The graphical representation of the result differs significantly from the provisional final result of the municipal council election", explains GR Depaoli: "In total, the result is around 120 percent and that is without the campaigning group KPÖ. The reason for this questionable graphical representation can only be incorrectly entered ward results," the councillor speculates.

It is not about the counting of votes per se. We want to make sure that there were no errors when entering or transmitting the data.

GR Gerald Depaoli, Team Gerecht

Bild: Birbaumer Christof

It therefore cannot be ruled out "that the data (ward results) for the provisional final result of the mayoral and municipal council elections may have been entered incorrectly in whole or in part and that errors may have occurred when creating the graphical representation".

The bone of contention is an ORF election graphic based on the source City of Innsbruck: the KPÖ is missing here, the Gerecht group has 6.4 percent.

(Bild: zVg)

"Main electoral authority should clear up doubts"
Depaoli also wonders how it was possible to report on the Willi-Anzengruber run-off tendencies as early as 5 p.m. on election day, when the city had repeatedly communicated that there would be no results before 7 p.m.

Varying number of votes cast
Depaoli sees the fact that the number of votes cast in the mayoral and municipal council elections are not identical, but differ by 17 votes, as a further indication of possible glitches in data entry and processing and refers to the Babler-Doskozil party conference of the federal SPÖ. With regard to Innsbruck, Depaoli says that mistakes are human, "given the vast number of district results and the tight time frame".

Deadline for contestation is running
An enquiry by the "Krone" at the electoral authority revealed that an application for a review had been submitted by the deadline last Saturday. This is to be distinguished from the possibility of contesting the election at the Constitutional Court. The deadline for this is four weeks from the end of the election procedure. All groups of voters who have submitted election proposals in good time are entitled to challenge the election.