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Habsburg heir goes to European rights court over election ban
Oct 5, 2010, 10:08 GMT
Vienna - An heir to the house of Habsburg has called on the European Court of Human Rights to overturn Austria's ban on members of former ruling families running for president, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Because of this constitutional rule, Ulrich Habsburg-Lothringen was not allowed to stand as a candidate for the presidential election in April.
His lawyer, Rudolf Vouk, said the Strasbourg court's ruling would take several years. 'But it should work out until the next election,' he said, looking ahead to the 2016 polls.
Citizens have shown little interest in the campaign of Habsburg- Lothringen, a third-degree nephew of Otto von Habsburg, the son of the last emperor, Charles.
When Habsburg-Lothringen tried to collect support signatures before the election, only some 3,000 voters responded.
Social Democratic President Heinz Fischer, as well as the centre- right People's Party and the Greens have signalled their readiness to end the ban.
However, the official position of the ruling Social Democratic Party is not so positive. The party wants to make sure that the Habsburgs will not launch claims on their former property after becoming equal citizens in terms of election law.
Vouk called such arguments 'dishonest.'
'Everyone who has studied the matter a bit knows that one has nothing to do with the other,' he said.
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