Lower Austria's local council election: SPÖ Topt despite losses!

Lower Austria's local council election: SPÖ Topt despite losses!

Waidhofen an der Thaya, Österreich - The highly expected municipal elections in Lower Austria took place on Sunday. A total of 1.3 million eligible voters were called to decide on the composition of the municipal councils in 568 municipalities. Despite remarkable losses, the People's Party (ÖVP) remains the strongest strength and reached 47 percent nationwide, a decrease of 5.9 percentage points compared to the last elections, which according to information from MeinDZeil has been the lowest value since 1995.

The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) defended its strong position with 61.46 percent, but had to accept a minus of 2.1 percentage points. Thanks to the increase from 21 to 23 mandates, she did not lose any seats in the local council, while ÖVP 6 and the Freedomized (FPÖ) secured 3 mandates. The FPÖ, on the other hand, celebrated a remarkable increase and reached a total of 13 percent, an increase of 7.3 percentage points. In many municipalities, such as in Wiener Neustadt, the ÖVP had to accept bitter declines, but was still able to defend place. Particularly noteworthy is the result in Waidhofen on the Thaya, where the incumbent VP Mayor Josef Ramharter secured the absolute majority with 52 percent.

important election results

The election results show a clear shift in the political landscape of Lower Austria. The SPÖ achieved an impressive 87.6 percent in communities such as Enzenreith, despite Andreas Babler's departure as mayor in Traiskirchen, where it still retained the absolute majority. The ÖVP, on the other hand, was only able to reach 24.2 percent in Baden, which means a dramatic decline of 17.2 percentage points. These changes were also documented by Noen .

In addition, there was a significant innovation in voting: voters were able to award up to five preferred votes, but all of them had to be assigned to the same party. This regulation is intended to bundle the votes and ensure a clearer representation of the voter requests.