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According to ORF projections, the Social Democrats in the capital Vienna clearly won the most important elections this year in Austria. The right-wing FPÖ, on the other hand, experienced a historic debacle. Mayor Michael Ludwig’s SPÖ has 42 percent of the vote in his stronghold, an increase of 2.4 percentage points compared to the elections five years ago.
According to the information, right-wing populists lost more than two-thirds of their voters compared to the record result of 2015 and only obtained 7.7 percent (minus 23.1 percentage points). One of the reasons for this is the fragmentation of the field on the right. Former FPÖ boss Heinz-Christian Strache drew up his own list and should miss 3.6 percent at the 5 percent hurdle.
The Greens lead 14.1 percent (plus 2.3 percentage points) close to their record result. The conservative ÖVP celebrated big gains, after a poor performance five years ago. It rose 9.5 percentage points to 18.8 percent. “We have moved from fourth to second place and have achieved the biggest win in the history of the ÖVP,” said top candidate and Finance Minister Gernot Blümel. ÖVP chief and chancellor Sebastian Kurz noted that it was the eighth consecutive state election for the ÖVP.
“It’s Angela Merkel from Vienna”
The liberal Neos did it acceptably with a slight gain of almost eight percent. According to previous statements, the Neos want to form a coalition with the SPÖ as a junior partner. Since 2010, the city with its almost two million inhabitants has been governed by a red-green alliance. The relationship between the coalition partners is considered strained. Ludwig’s victory, who succeeded Mayor Michael Häupl in 2018, was primarily attributed to commentators on his balance and central course. “It’s Angela Merkel from Vienna,” said the editor-in-chief of the news magazine “Profil”, Christian Rainer.
Success in Vienna does not go to the account of the federal SPÖ under party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner, political scientist Peter Filzmaier told ORF. From the point of view of the SPÖ voters, urban politics and the person of the mayor played a central role.
For Strache, the state elections in Vienna were a first litmus test for his political comeback. Originally, he had aimed for a double digit result in his hometown. “If we can’t move, it could be the end of Strache’s political career,” said a member of his team in the “Kurier” newspaper. “There is no plan B,” said Karl Baron of the HC Strache team at ORF.
The FPÖ and Strache had fought after Ibiza and the ex-FPÖ boss’s expense issue. Strache had appeared open to corruption in a compilation of the Ibiza video, after publication in May 2019, he resigned as vice chancellor and party leader. A few months later, he was accused of using party funds for private purposes. Strache denies this, but the scandals have destroyed his relationship with the FPÖ.
It may take until Tuesday until the official final result. The more than 380,000 voting cards will only be counted on Monday. However, the extrapolations already take into account the likely voting behavior of postal voters. More than 1.1 million citizens were called to vote. Many foreigners living in the city do not have the right to vote at the state level. Due to the Corona crisis, many security precautions have been taken at polling stations.
