People's Party remains strong: 78% of the mayoral offices under control!

People's Party remains strong: 78% of the mayoral offices under control!

Münchendorf, Österreich - The elections in Lower Austria left a mixed picture at the Volkspartei (ÖVP). While the ÖVP continues to post the mayors in 78 percent of the municipalities, it recorded significant losses in several regions. At today's press conference in St. Pölten, Matthias Zauner, the state manager of the ÖVP, drew a positive balance: "Lower Austria remains the black core country." According to Zauner, the People's Party achieved the second best election result ever and now provides a total of 447 mayors, including 70 women. The mayor of Münchendorf, Doris Kirstorfer, and the mayor of Lichtenwörth, Manuel Events, who were able to claim their offices and trump the SPÖ in their communities, celebrated special successes, such as the press reported.

Bitter sweet election results

Despite these successes, the output is not consistently positive for the ÖVP. In municipalities such as Zwettl and Baden, the People's Party of Herbe had to accept losses of up to 25.61 percentage points and thus lost the absolute majority. In Zwettl, the ÖVP only reached 48.09 percent and lost 18 out of a total of 37 mandates. The Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) performed better in many Viennese surrounding communities, where the ÖVP, for example, only came to 33.6 percent. In the overall view, however, the People's Party achieved a share of 47 percent, while the SPÖ was 26.4 percent, which shows that the political landscape is still very competitive, as from the analysis of apa .

In addition, the FPÖ, which gained growth in several Viennese communities, cuts significantly better at over 16 percent than in the past. In many communities, the ÖVP remains the strongest force, but the loss of the absolute majority in key communities could challenge political stability in Lower Austria in the coming years. The elections have shown that despite the successes, there are also highly competitive regions in which regional differences are huge. The challenge for the ÖVP will be to consolidate the voter base and to regain lost trust.