Campaigning gnomes representing the Social Democratic Party in Austria vanished after the party hung them up on lamp posts over the weekend.
The gnomes, called "Coolmen," donned sunglasses and campaign signs and were the party's alternative to posters in the weeks before the regional election.
The party hung 400 gnomes Saturday night. By Sunday morning they were all gone with barely a trace of evidence, reports The Washington Post.
Social Democratic Party leader Michael Ritsch is convinced the missing gnomes are part of a political scandal by the opposing party, OeVP (the Austrian People's Party).
"All of our gnomes are 40 centimeters tall. The thieves must have needed more than just one truck to steal them," Ritsh explains to WP adding that almost immediately after the gnomes were removed, campaign posters from the OeVP party appeared on the same lamp posts.
OeVP is denying the allegations of the stolen gnomes that amount to $4,000, according to The Associated Press.
The missing gnomes are only 400 of the 20,000 campaign gnomes ordered by the Social Democratic Party and local voters should expect to see more of them up until elections on Sept. 21 reports The Local.
