1000 euro fine

SPÖ must pay fine for early start to election campaign

A campaign launched prematurely by the SPÖ mandatee on social media caused a political stir during the election campaign. The SPÖ has to pay a fine of 1000 euros for this.

(Bild: Facebook/Christian Dax)

A campaign launched too early by Christian Dax on social media caused a political stir during the state election campaign. The SPÖ has now been penalized for the premature election advertising of the candidate. However, proceedings against the ÖVP for a magazine during the election campaign have not yet been concluded.

Christian Dax's premature start to the state election campaign cost the SPÖ 1000 euros. The case was initiated by the ÖVP, which submitted a statement of facts to the Office of the Burgenland Provincial Government on October 15 regarding a violation of the Political Parties Promotion Act. The lawyer published two postings on social media before the deadline on October 29, including a video in which he solicited preferential votes. However, both ads were deactivated after a few hours.

While the state parliamentary mandatary and the SPÖ spoke of an oversight at the time, the ÖVP saw a clear admission of guilt. The fact that Dax, a lawyer of all people, was the one to fall foul of the new party funding law also caused a stir within the parties. He himself was not informed of the "punishment" by his own party, but found out about it through the media, Dax said.

According to the SPÖ, the fine imposed had already been paid and was automatically deducted from the party funding.

Proceedings against the People's Party, which were also initiated during the election campaign, have not yet been concluded due to their scope. The investigation is based on a statement of facts submitted by the SPÖ concerning the magazine "Unterm Strich" distributed by the ÖVP.