ÖVP recommends that voters punish it at the polls

A growing number of politicians in the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) are announcing they will cast blank ballots in the presidential elections on April 25, and recommending that voters do the same. But the plan can only backfire, writes the daily Die Presse: "The party doesn't have a candidate and isn't suggesting to its supporters how they might vote. And its recommendation that voters should spoil their ballots, although perhaps not so otherworldly as the Red-Green [Social Democratic-Green Party] moralising, is also problematic because it misrepresents the message of those who spoil their ballots or stay away from the polls. These people want to tell the parties that what they're offering isn't enough. When top representatives of the ÖVP recommend their voters should cast blank ballots, they're basically asking people to protest against their own party. Down with us - now that's a slogan."

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