Innsbruck local council election: high costs and civic unity

Innsbruck local council election: high costs and civic unity

There was a lot of action in the Innsbruck municipal council election campaign, but the current discussion is primarily about the enormous campaign costs raised by the Tursky list. Florian Tursky, the leading candidate of this bourgeois coalition, has now published figures that are causing a stir. The reward for the joint appearance and the resources invested seem to be out of proportion to the votes achieved.

The unification under the motto “The new Innsbruck” enabled the bourgeois parties to join forces. After the ÖVP, the List for Innsbruck and the Senior Citizens' Association took their first joint steps into the election campaign, there was great hope for a successful outcome. In the 2018 elections, the bourgeois camp was able to get more than 30 percent of the votes, but this time the math changed dramatically.

Campaign costs at record levels

The current campaign costs amount to a whopping 1.1 million euros - a considerable sum that was invested in the mayoral and local council election campaigns alone. While the costs were estimated at 690,000 euros in April 2024, these figures have now exploded to nine-month costs of 181.13 euros per vote and 275,000 euros per mandate won. Given that only 6,073 votes were cast, critics say the result is anything but satisfactory.

Overall, the 13 participating lists invested around 2.9 million euros in the election campaign. But how does this work in the context of other parties? The Fritz list, for example, spent 60.77 euros per vote and 100,000 euros per mandate, which shows a clear difference to the expenditure of Tursky’s list.

Against this background, the NEOS are calling for more transparency in campaign financing. Following the motto “open cards”, they published their entire income and expenses online during the election campaign. Lukas Schobesberger emphasizes that this should be a matter of course in order to give citizens the opportunity to see how the parties handle the funds.

The SPÖ, in turn, is taking a further look at the costs and has brought an upper limit for campaign costs into play. Chairman Benjamin Plach proposes a maximum amount of 300,000 euros in order to keep expenses within reasonable limits. They made their own expenditure of just under 300,000 euros transparent, which is surprisingly close to the proposed upper limit.

The FPÖ also expressed sharp criticism. State party chairman Markus Abwerzger finds the costs of the ÖVP's failed election campaign alarming. He notes that 1.1 million euros for 6,072 votes was the most expensive election campaign in the city's history. This raises questions about efficiency and future strategies.

The discussion about election campaign costs shows that the issue is of great concern not only to those involved, but also to voters. The focus now is on calling for greater transparency and potentially necessary reforms to transform campaign investments into a fair and supported system. The political landscape in Innsbruck remains exciting, but it will be interesting to see how the parties respond to these challenges. For more detailed insights and numbers, the reports can be found on www.meinkreis.at be consulted.