Conspiracies on the net

Rumors about FPÖ votes: Ministry denies

It comes almost like the Amen in prayer - the discussion about possible falsification or manipulation after an election.

(Bild: Manuel Schwaiger)

While the EU elections were still underway in Austria, rumors of electoral fraud were circulating on social networks. According to these rumors, potential FPÖ ballots had been declared invalid by election inspectors from other parties. So far, however, the Ministry of the Interior has not provided any evidence of actual attempts at manipulation. A fact check confirms this. 

In particular, the claim spread that ballot papers for the FPÖ were "dropped" during the count if the vote was not clearly recognizable.

Corona denier Rutter circulated rumors
According to the conspiracy theorists, this was mainly possible because FPÖ observers were not present in all electoral wards. One of the people who started the rumors was ex-politician and corona denier Martin Rutter (see screenshot below).

Rutter spreads false reports.

(Bild: Screenshot/Telegram)

Ministry of the Interior: No known complaints
The Home Office stated that no complaints or allegations relating to the recent EU elections were known or had been reported or passed on to the authority in any form.

Fact check: no evidence of manipulation
A fact check by APA also shows that there is no evidence of actualmanipulation: So far, there is no evidence of actual manipulation attempts.

• In principle, the question of the validity and invalidity of ballot papers is clearly regulated in the European Electoral Regulations (EuWO). Any falsification is punishable by law.

• In fact, it is the responsibility of the parties themselves to decide whether to send observers. The number of people from each party depends on the result of the last election.

• The ballot papers must always be assessed by an electoral authority and all decisions must be recorded in writing. A ballot paper can therefore not be declared invalid unilaterally by election officials.

ÖVP General: "Rumors of electoral fraud are outright lies"
 ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker had clear words on this on Tuesday. "The rumors are outright lies. After numerous FPÖ election observers did not follow their democratic mandate and preferred to stay at home on election Sunday, well-known players from the FPÖ environment took advantage of their supposed opportunity and started rumors."

It is a dangerous and highly worrying development "that the FPÖ environment is trying to undermine the democratic processes in a constitutional state with unfounded accusations.

ÖVP-Generalsekretär Christian Stocker

Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT

Stocker continued: "Neither the ministry nor the individual authorities have been notified of any complaints or allegations of possible electoral fraud."

Uproar over AfD ballot papers in Germany
In Germany, it was mainly posts about the alleged destruction ("shredding") or disappearance of AfD ballot papers by election officials that went viral.

German election supervisor: "Manipulation ruled out"
The German Federal Returning Officer wrote on X on Sunday evening that manipulation by individuals was ruled out, as an election committee member never makes decisions alone or is alone with election documents. The electoral board always consists of seven to nine people.

An allegation in a post is not proof of actual election manipulation, the German authority emphasized. The German authority referred to its X-Thread on Monday.

Origin of the false information lies in dubious accounts
The APA fact check shows that it is worth taking a look at the accounts that started the rumors in question. The post claiming to have disposed of ballot papers on which votes for the AfD had been cast no longer existed shortly after publication. The entire account was also deleted, although it had already existed for some time.

Another post on X, which had been cited as evidence of election manipulation, has also since been deleted. Only an archived version still exists. One user also claimed to be voting in the EU election in constituency "666" in Bielefeld, which does not even exist. 

Shredded ballot paper is a stock photo
The image of the shredded ballot paper turned out to be a stock photo. A photo of allegedly removed AfD postal votes in the EU election circulated by the same person comes from a dpa image database and was already used in 2019 in the course of reporting on a state election in Germany.