2020 city council elections in Vorarlberg: first mayor is re-elected – Stallehr

In the 2020 Vorarlberg town hall and mayor elections, the first mayor has been elected: Matthias Luger, head of the small commune of Stallehr (Bludenz district), has been confirmed in his office.

The Luger, who has been in office since 2015, had no opponent.

As the only candidate standing in the elections, he received 113 of the 146 votes cast in the direct mayoral election. Luger had succeeded his father as mayor five years ago.

215 people were eligible to vote in Stallehr, 146 of them (67.91 percent) cast their vote. In the case of ten invalid ballot papers, 23 voters explicitly spoke (“No”) against Luger. This resulted in a Luger approval of 83.10 percent (2015: 82.89). In the municipal council election, 139 of the 146 votes cast fell on the “Stallehr List,” to which Luger ran. The “Stallehr list” was the only candidate in the small community.

The Stallehr electoral college was the first to close in Vorarlberg (along with Warth and Schröcken).

In the three municipalities, the polling stations have been closed since 10.30 am.

The 301,572 eligible voters – 148,090 men and 153,482 women – have to choose from 220 lists (nationwide in total). In 65 of the 96 localities, mayors are directly elected, 142 candidates have been nominated, including 22 women. In municipalities without direct elections, the head of the municipality is determined by the newly elected municipal council.

Like five years ago, 1,806 terms will be granted across the country. In 2015, 495 seats went to ÖVP leaders (2010: 612), 153 (123) for the Freedom Party and 122 (69) for the green deputies. In addition, there are 101 (115) SPÖ leaders, 887 (845) name list representatives in Ländle municipal offices, most of them close to ÖVP, and six NEOS politicians. Although the ÖVP does not have an absolute majority in any city in the country, it provides the mayor everywhere except Hohenems. The Popular Party dominates in the large and medium communities of the country.

ÖVP politicians or name list representatives currently rule in 90 of Vorarlberg’s 96 towns, the FPÖ has the mayor’s office in four communities, the SPÖ in two. There has not yet been a green head of the municipality in Vorarlberg.