As Austria’s parliamentary elections approach, campaign posters in Vienna are being increasingly vandalised, with nearly half either smeared or torn down.
According to Gewista, a company responsible for managing advertising spaces, its teams have already responded to around 1,000 incidents of vandalised election posters.
“Election campaign time is always intense, with more acts of vandalism,” Gewista Managing Director Franz Solta told ORF. “That’s why customers provide 10% more posters than necessary, and we replace them as swiftly as possible.”
All political parties have been affected, leading to added costs to repair the damage.
Peter Sverak, regional director for the Vienna branch of the People’s Party (ÖVP), noted: “If you put up a poster and it’s destroyed a few days later, you have to replace it. It leads to damage, and there are costs involved.”
Both the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and NEOS have also reported widespread vandalism of their posters, many of which have been painted over or ripped apart. Michael Stumpf, press spokesman for the Freedom Party (FPÖ) in Vienna, commented: “Every second election poster in Vienna is currently being destroyed, and the trend is rising. We have many volunteers who travel across Vienna at all hours to replace the damaged posters.”
Vandalising election posters is an offence. If caught, perpetrators could face charges for criminal damage. Several reports have already been filed this year.
