Mayor election in Vorarlberg: excitement and surprises everywhere!

Mayor election in Vorarlberg: excitement and surprises everywhere!

In Vorarlberg, exciting mayoral elections took place on Sunday, which led to unexpected results. Michael Ritsch from the SPÖ was re -elected in Bregenz with an impressive 50.94 %. This marks the first time since 1995 that the SPÖ has won a majority in the city council, which gives Ritsch the opportunity to "go full throttle for five years," said his own statement. The turnout was 54.3 %, with a total of 307,891 people entitled to vote, including 36,505 foreign EU citizens, as on 5min.at reported.

However, the elections did not remain without excitement: in several cities such as Lustenau, Feldkirch, Dornbirn and Lochau, stitch elections will be required. Patrick Wiedl (ÖVP) and Martin Fitz (FPÖ) compete against each other in Lustenau, while Feldkirch decides between Manfred Rädler (ÖVP) and Andrea Kerbleder (FPÖ). In Dornbirn, Julian Fässler (ÖVP) and Markus Fäßler (SPÖ) compete, and Frank Matt (Greens) and Stephan Schnetzer (ÖVP) fight for the position in Lochau. Nenzing also holds a runoff election between Michael Hartmann (ÖVP) and Kornelia Spiß (FPÖ). Amazingly, Simon Tschann (ÖVP) in Bludenz remained in Bludenz despite a non-legally binding mayor, as of Exxpress.at

A total of seven mayoral elections are now pending, which is a record number. The ÖVP showed surprisingly weak results in many places, especially in Bregenz, while the FPÖ in Nenzing lost its decades of majority. The ÖVP mayor Martin Sadjak was voted out in Schruns. While the Greens were able to achieve highlights, the Neos party hardly appeared. The final results have nevertheless failed, including in Raggal, where the final result will be published on March 17th.