Sensation in Bregenz: Michael Ritsch is the new mayor – Vorarlberg municipal council elections –

Ritsch becomes the first Social Democratic mayor of Bregenz in 30 years.

Challenger Ritsch was able to claim 5,460 votes (51.67 percent) in the second round, and Mayor Linhart, who has been in office since 1998, 5,108 (48.33 percent), a 352-vote lead for Ritsch. The turnout was 49.85 percent, after 50 percent in the first vote. Ritsch and Linhart competed with each other in these municipal elections for the fourth time in the direct mayoral election, after 2005 they met for the second time in a second round this year.

Ritsch is now the third Social Democratic mayor of Bregenz, where the mayors of the Social Democrats ruled from 1970 to 1990 (Fritz Mayer from 1970 to 1988, Norbert Neururer from 1988 to 1990) and the party temporarily held an absolute majority.

This time, Ritsch entered the second round with 893 votes behind (3,532 to 4,425 votes; 8.72 percentage points difference), far more than 15 years ago, when Ritsch was only 317 votes behind on the first vote. Linhart held the lead with a 52.56 percent share of the vote.

Leading the Vorarlberg Social Democrats, Michael Ritsch was not very successful. At the state level, three disappointing state elections followed, and at the municipal level, Ritsch was no longer successful after 2005. On Sunday, however, the 52-year-old’s political destiny improved. With his election as mayor of Bregenz, a long-cherished dream came true.

As a trained gendarme, Ritsch had been hired by the union at a young age, and at just 22 years old he became a city representative in his hometown. Five years later, Ritsch was promoted to the Bregenz city council and in 2004 he was elected to the state parliament. His first political moment came in 2005 in the elections to the municipal council of Vorarlberg. Although ultimately he was only defeated by the mayor’s office against Markus Linhart (ÖVP). But the Ländle Social Democrats had finally found a prominent candidate in their ranks again after many years of starvation. In 2007 he assumed command.

Over the years, Ritsch turned out to be a brilliant rhetorician and intrepid fighter against the supposed omnipotence of Vorarlberg’s ÖVP. The not modest, but very sociable Ritsch insisted on his problems, social issues and housing were the focus, and he rushed from one failure to another. Some observers classified his policy as “too left-wing” to be successful in Vorarlberg. Others pointed out that Ritsch was simply born in the wrong federal state and expected him to have great success in other federal states (with a broader SPÖ tradition).

Despite all the political difficulties, Ritsch did not let his good humor and humor spoil, as did his dwarf campaign for the 2014 state elections. Rather, he sharpened his positions and freed himself from internal party constraints. . So he did not care about the welfare of the federal grand coalition and instead gave his opinion. In the end, he contributed a lot to the departure of the SPÖ boss, Werner Faymann, with whom he could not at all.

If Ritsch was ready to remove his hat after the 2009 state elections, which was not the case due to the lack of a successor, then he maintained his position as party leader. After internal squabbles and a difficult discus operation, Ritsch lacked the aptitude a party leader needs for months in 2016. Almost exactly four years ago, on September 30, 2016, he resigned as state party chairman, but remained club president in the state parliament until the 2019 state elections. After the state elections, and the involuntary handover of the club’s leadership to the new party leader, Martin Staudinger, Ritsch was able to fully focus on the city council elections and mayor of 2020.

That the father of two daughters succeeded in the big hit was surprising in the end. Although he convinced with an extremely committed and personal election campaign, he was far behind Linhart after the first vote. In the second round, however, many green voters apparently cast their vote, which Linhart wanted to keep happy with the promised continuation of the black-green coalition. After 15 years, Ritsch was able to take revenge for the defeat in 2005.

All information about the second round of the mayor’s election in Vorarlberg at VOL.AT