Turning point in Bludenz: Women conquer mayoral offices!

Turning point in Bludenz: Women conquer mayoral offices!

In a surprising twist to the Montafon mayoral election, ÖVP candidate Elisabeth Kuster won in SPÖ-dominated St. Gallenkirch with an impressive 67 percent of the vote. Kuster's victory is remarkable, especially since the SPÖ did not even run in this election and its list only achieved 36 percent vorarlberg.orf.at reported. At the same time, Alexandra Schalegg from the “Together for Ludesch” list was re-elected to office in Ludesch with an overwhelming majority of 88.41 percent. Angelika Moosbrugger, the incumbent mayor of Wolfurt, was also able to clearly prevail with 73.2 percent.

Drama in Hettingen: Only one candidate admitted to the election

In Hettingen, where the elections will take place on March 24th, a different story has unfolded. Daniel Eiffler, the only officially admitted candidate, was able to submit his application in a timely and complete manner, while the second applicant, Reinhard Riesch, was rejected due to missing signatures schwaebische.de reported. Eiffler is a member of the CDU and plans to focus particularly on the topics of finance, education and infrastructure. His candidacy only became necessary after Dagmar Kuster, who served as mayor for 12 years, unexpectedly announced her resignation and will be leaving office on April 30th.

The elections in the various communities show a clear picture: politics in Montafon is changing. While the ÖVP was able to regain the trust of voters in several municipalities, the question in Hettingen remains whether Eiffler can successfully make the change after Kuster has held the reins for an entire term. The elections represent a promising, if challenging, time for the new candidates and eligible voters.