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In six municipalities in Vorarlberg, citizens went to the polls on Sunday. After the municipal council elections, run-off elections for mayor had to be contested in Bregenz, Lech, Lochau, Bludenz, Hard and Feldkirch. The ÖVP loses four mayoralties, including those of the state capital and the noble ski resort of Lech. The Greens can, for the first time, provide a local chief in the state. In Bludenz, the police are investigating allegedly forged signatures on voting cards.
In Bregenz, after 30 years, Michael Ritsch, a politician from the SPÖ, takes over as mayor again. “I was not expecting this result,” he says. For the fourth time, the SPÖ member of the state parliament clashed with the longtime ÖVP city chief Markus Linhart. 51.67 percent of the vote went to the SPÖ candidates, a sensation in Vorarlberg, which is dominated by the ÖVP. Ritsch wants to resign his tenure in the state parliament for the SPÖ to focus on working in the community. His opponent took note of the result. It had not yet considered whether Linhart, who had been in office since 1997, would continue to be actively involved in community politics.
