SPÖ leading candidate Ludwig before the Vienna elections modestly: “He is very confident in our own strengths” – Wien Aktuell

Michael Ludwig, incumbent mayor of Vienna and main candidate of the SPÖ in the Vienna elections of October 11, 2020, had to defend many of the strategies that are currently being applied in Vienna on Tuesday evening in the interview “Zeit im Bild “with Armin Wolf, for example on the subject. Corona tests.

In response to Wolf’s critical questioning of the existing corona situation in Vienna with a yellow crown traffic light in the event of numerous new infections, half of the active corona cases across Austria and days of waiting for implementation and outcome corona tests, Ludwig noted that in Vienna, tests are done much and differently than in the rest of Austria and 4,000 infected people who otherwise had no corona symptoms were only discovered using this testing strategy.

According to Ludwig, the gurgling tests for schoolchildren, developed with the support of the City of Vienna, are of great help. The mayor also touched on a next step where they also want to develop their own testing system for kindergarten children. Expansion of the health system and increase in personnel are goals here. Ludwig is also confident that he will be able to carry out a safe choice regarding the handling of the Vienna elections despite the Corona crisis.

When asked about the alarming figures in the recently released Vienna Integration Report, according to which around two-thirds of young people with a migratory background do not achieve their educational goals, the SPÖ’s lead candidate referred to the free kindergarten, which only offers Vienna, the new free all-day schools and the university for young people as bridges to the School for working life. Wolf was adamant: “Obviously, you’re doing very little.”

As a further integration issue, Wolf mentioned the fact that 30 percent of the people living in Vienna are not eligible to vote in the Vienna elections and asked about Ludwig’s personal attitude in this regard. After some evasive answers, Ludwig found clear words here: “I believe that the right to vote should be linked to citizenship.”

The individual points of the current SPÖ election program were also mentioned in the ZIB interview: Wolf wanted to know more precisely whether Ludwig was aware that the ten-fold increase in Vienna’s bicycle lanes by 460 new kilometers by 2030 would mean that 130,000 to 180,000 parking spaces would give way to cyclists. I’d have to.

The mayor responded that he was not familiar with the survey mentioned by Wolf and emphasized that in his opinion, the interaction between road users should be well organized and the opportunity to ride a bike in Vienna should be promoted.

Regarding the electoral objective of the SPÖ of only wanting to maintain the result of the last elections, Wolf identified an inappropriate modesty: “The Freedom Party will collapse, there will be 150,000 votes for the FPÖ”. Anything below 42 or 43 percent for the SPÖ is, according to Wolf, “shameful”.

As in previous discussions on this topic, Ludwig was reluctant to be too optimistic, referring to the large number of substitute voters and admitting: “I am making an offer to all Viennese and not to a specific target group. I think I can be attractive for the Viennese who have voted for very different parties so far. ” He described any dreams of an absolute majority in the mandate that Wolf referred to as “absolutely unreal.”

Ludwig did not give any preference on the issue of possible coalitions after the Vienna elections, even if NEOS, for example, were actively offering itself as a possible partner and according to Wolf, the ÖVP would be a good strategy because then “I would no longer have to Vienna as an enemy. ” The top candidate of the SPÖ only made it clear that there would be no coalition with the FPÖ and the HC Strache team. “We discarded it.”

On the general attitude of the SPÖ towards the October 11 elections, Ludwig said: “I have great confidence in our own strengths and also in the ideas we have for the future of the city.”

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