Taylor Swift tickets
Volt party faces criminal proceedings over raffle
The pan-European party Volt is facing criminal proceedings. It had announced that it would raffle off tickets for a Taylor Swift concert among the declarations of support. The Ministry of the Interior then turned to the public prosecutor's office.
The prize would encourage the younger generation to take an interest in European politics, it said in mid-April. However, the party was in breach of a new criminal law. The party had not been aware of this and had been informed of it by the Ministry of the Interior, said top candidate Alexander Harrer. He apologized for the action. The competition for the concert in Vienna would no longer be advertised and the previous declarations of support were valid.
The Ministry of the Interior confirmed the incident. Since the Corruption Criminal Law Amendment Act of 2023, the signing of declarations of support for an election proposal has been protected by criminal law. Promises or offers such as cash, concert tickets or vouchers could be assessed as "bribery in an election or referendum".
Candidacy unlikely to succeed
Irrespective of possible criminal proceedings, the Volt party will probably not be on the ballot paper in the EU elections in Austria. One day before the deadline, around 1,000 declarations of support were collected; 2,600 are required to stand. Small parties that are not supported by three members of the National Council or one member of the EU must collect 2600 signatures throughout Austria by Friday, April 26.
One of the reasons why more than half of the declarations of support are still missing is that lead candidate Nini Tsiklauri has to go to the municipal office. The authorities are usually only open when most people are working, especially in rural areas. It should be possible to submit a declaration using ID Austria. Volt says it now wants to launch a referendum to change the process.
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