[ad_1]
There were surprises in the second round elections for the mayor’s office in 28 Carinthia municipalities: in Kirchbach, Irschen and Steuerberg, three long-term mayors lost their elections.
There were runoff elections for the mayor’s office in 28 Carinthia municipalities on Sunday. After the closing of the elections at 4 pm, the first results arrived and there were surprises. In Kirchbach and Irschen, as well as in Steuerberg, three long-term mayors lost their posts. In addition to the state capital Klagenfurt, the district cities of Spittal an der Drau and Hermagor were also chosen. In Klagenfurt, a preliminary result was expected at 7pm
In Irschen, ÖVP candidate Manfred Dullnig won 57.40 percent against former SPÖ mayor Gottfried Mandler (SPÖ). In Kirchbach, Markus Salcher (SPÖ) clearly beat the FPÖ community head Hermann Jantschgi with 57.2 percent. Werner Egger (SPÖ) also managed to do this at Steuerberg. He obtained 60.5 percent of the vote and replaces Mayor Karl Petritz (ÖVP), who was in office for 36 years. Krems, Irschen and Weißensee, all in the Spittal district, went to the ÖVP, as did Metnitz in the St. Veit an der Glan district.
Klagenfurt is still open
Klagenfurt Mayor Maria-Luise Mathiaschitz (SPÖ) hoped to defend her position against her predecessor Christian Scheider, who switched from the FPÖ to the Carinthia team before the elections. In the first vote on February 28, the incumbent received 33.4 percent of the vote, just ahead of Scheider, who got 30.6 percent.
Could be a bind in Spittal
It could also be nearby in Spittal an der Drau. Here starter Gerhard Pirih (SPÖ) fought his predecessor Gerhard Köfer (Team Carinthia), who was previously at SPÖ. Köfer was just ahead of Pirih (35 percent) in the first vote with 36.2 percent. In Hermagor, city boss Siegfried Ronacher (SPÖ), who achieved 44.2 percent, had to go to the second round against ÖVP challenger Leopold Astner (37.6 percent). In 2015, Ronacher prevailed by a narrow seven-vote lead.
At the national level, the SPÖ won 60 mayors in the 2015 local elections, the ÖVP 42 – some of them with name lists – and the FPÖ 24. So far two mayors have provided the unified Slovenian / Enotna list, one from the team of Carinthia. The rest is for name list candidates.
(WHAT)
