Lower Austrian municipal elections

Dispute over party posters heats up the election campaign

The Freedom Party in Kirnberg an der Mank putting up posters (in vain).(Bild: FPÖ)

ÖVP mayor had FPÖ posters removed. Since then, fierce battles have raged between the two party headquarters.  

Almost six weeks before the municipal elections, the nervousness in the party headquarters is noticeably increasing. On Sunday, FPÖ top candidate Reinhard Geppel and his party friends put up posters in Kirnberg an der Mank. But partly in vain.

Anger among FPÖ functionaries
"On Monday, the ÖVP mayor ordered municipal workers to remove the posters. But without informing the local FPÖ," rages Freedom Party district chairman Richard Punz and accuses the ÖVP of "disregarding basic democratic rules": "This is unworthy of a mayor!"

ÖVP supports the head of the village
Leopold Lienbacher, who has been scolded in this way, receives support from the ÖVP headquarters in St. Pölten: "The FPÖ put up billboards in contravention of an existing ordinance," says party manager Matthias Zauner. There is a unanimous municipal council resolution that posters may not be put up on bridge railings and lampposts. Zauner: "The rule of law also applies to the FPÖ!"