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Hebein has been working to achieve this result since September 2018 (at that time she was running for the party’s internal elections as the top candidate) and under difficult conditions. These have two roots.
Hebein inherited a disputed party
First, Hebein’s predecessor Maria Vassilakou: the former green deputy mayor left Hebein, a coalition of city councils that had functioned well mainly thanks to its creators: Vassilakou and Michael Häupl. After the changing of the guard, Hebein and Mayor Michael Ludwig were trapped in an arranged marriage. The closer the Vienna elections got, the clearer it became what that meant: the SPÖ even told the new party leader that it wanted Red-Green III. But “rather without a chair.”
Other than that, Vassilakou inherited a divided party: the fact that they delayed his withdrawal had fueled the trench warfare between Fundis and Realos (fueled by the green fiasco in the 2017 National Council elections and the latent hay market conflict) .
But Hebein wasn’t just fighting for her legacy. But, and this is the second reason for the complicated initial situation, also by yourself.
Hebein won the top internal election. (By the way, with the announcement that his party persevered throughout the electoral campaign: he wanted to combine climate and social issues). But: She was an engagement candidate. And he had a crucial problem: lack of awareness. In the eight years behind her as a social spokesperson at the city council, she had hardly mentioned herself.
Exciting projects like pop-up bike lanes
That changed no later than the end of 2019, when Hebein negotiated the turquoise green coalition in the federal government. And, thanks to Corona, he was able to continue speaking: with exciting projects such as emerging bike lanes and temporary meeting areas (which provided a welcome target for the other parties and the media during the election campaign).
The culmination of all this should be the “car-free” city. In fact, the venture turned out to be the 53-year-old’s biggest defeat. Just a week and a half before the election, Mayor Ludwig vetoed the prestigious green project.
And yet: all the fuss paid for Hebein’s celebrities. As polls show, he is well known. But also highly controversial: Hebein is, by and large, the most unpopular member of the city government. It looks different with the central voters, they appreciate Hebein and his course.
This constellation, ultimately, is also reflected in the result: compared to 2015, according to the trend forecast, they achieved an increase of 3.2 percentage points. However, this is much less than the growth that Werner Kogler was able to achieve in Vienna in the elections to the National Council.
