Contrary to original statements, the appearance of the “Salzburg Beer Party” (SBP) in the Salzburg state elections on April 23 was not a serious political project, but an artistic project. “The statements of support were real and the electoral list was real,” said cultural manager Paul Estrela on Thursday. However, a “self-destruct mechanism” was built in to ensure that the party would not be on the ballot paper.
All of the people on the list had already submitted a declaration of waiver when they submitted it to the state electoral authority – which made it impossible for the election commission to accept the SBP’s running. The aim of the campaign was to show that parties are often only perceived as brands today and that colors and sayings often play more of a role than the ideologies behind them. “We wanted to get people to question that,” said Estrela – who, dressed in a monk’s habit, hit 150 declarations of support on a wooden board at the seat of the Salzburg state government today.
The auction of list number 1 for EUR 103.95 also showed that there are things that one would not consider possible, but which are legal. “We’ve had far more positive feedback than negative feedback, expecting that offering a place on the list for money would generate more outrage than encouragement.” According to Estrela, this is a step that would no longer be possible according to the new anti-corruption law that is currently being reviewed. Incidentally, he and his comrades-in-arms want to exhibit the result of the artistic intervention in Hallein in the fall.
With the withdrawal of the Salzburg Beer Party, a legal dispute with the Austrian Beer Party by presidential candidate Dominik Wlazny alias Marco Pogo is also history. This had brought an action for injunctive relief due to the violation of the name rights and requested an injunction. As Estrela explained today, the beer party was rebuffed in court with an application for an injunction – but he does not yet know the reasons for this.