Run-off election in Innsbruck

Hoping for an election Sunday without bad luck and mishaps

The electoral authorities have announced an earlier announcement of the election results for the run-off election on Sunday: At around 6 pm, it should be known who the new mayor of Innsbruck is. The aftermath of the first election Sunday continues: ORF Tirol apologizes for "graphics glitch".

The first election Sunday in Innsbruck's city library was strange and somewhat chaotic in places: at first, the election evening dragged on like a strudel. Despite BM Georg Willi's announcement that there would be no interim results before 7 p.m., the results kept trickling in from 5 p.m. onwards.

When the final results were finally announced, there were none. The head of the electoral authority, Ferdinand Neu, was sitting in a cab and delivered it late, but in person - although it had also been transmitted digitally, as he emphasized in the "Krone" interview.

Graphic showed 120 percent 
In the general hustle and bustle, ORF Tirol created a false graphic, which was only visible on the screens for a few seconds, but - as reported - resulted in a "request for review" by GR Depaoli from "Just Innsbruck".

It was a livestream, unfortunately mistakes can happen. What is important to me is that we immediately informed the audience that it was an oversight.

Georg Laich, ORF-Tirol-Chefredakteur

No premature announcement of results
There were suspected problems with the transmission of data from the 154 electoral districts. However, he is not aware of any such problems, says Neu: "The immediate reports from the electoral wards are transmitted by telephone to the electoral office in the town hall, where they are immediately checked for mathematical accuracy. Subsequently, the ward electoral administration appears at the electoral office with the entire election file, where a further check takes place."

The main electoral authority can rule out the possibility that data was transmitted to third parties before the results were announced: "All members of the main electoral authority - a chairman, two judges of the regional court and six assessors from the parliamentary groups with the most votes in the last election - are bound to secrecy by law".

ORF graphic without reference to the electoral authority
So how did the ORF come up with its false graphic? "This test graphic created for technical samples had no reference to data from the electoral authority. It was not intended for publication," says ORF Tirol editor-in-chief Georg Laich. "The graphic in question was only displayed for a moment, was removed immediately and replaced shortly afterwards by the correctly created visualization."

There are no longer 13 lists this time
The live broadcast, which started at 7 p.m., ended without a result. The reason was the delay on the part of the electoral authority: "Due to the high number of 13 candidates for the mayoral election, a further 13 electoral groups running and the possibility of casting preferential votes for over 800 nominations, the counting in the Sprengel electoral authorities took an above-average amount of time," says Neu.