A small blue eye for the Social Democrats

There were elections that should have taken place under completely different signs than intended by the Social Democrats and the Mayor of Vienna Michael Ludwig: when everything looked like one last January Federal government Under the extremely right FPÖ boss Herbert Kickl Austria, the SPÖ decided, which has almost fully said in the federal capital for many decades for many decades. Actually, Ludwig and his comrades appeared to be optimal to mobilize their own followers in Vienna, but an election campaign against an FPÖ-led federal government appeared.

It turned out differently: ÖVP, SPÖ and the liberal Neos were still standing together, now the three parties rule at the federal level, the mayor came up with the mobilization effect – and so Ludwig and his colleagues had to accept a rather moderate result on Sunday. Around 37 percent for Ludwig and the SPÖ, which showed a first trend forecast on Sunday afternoon, no catastrophe for the red top dog, but still a clear minus. In the afternoon it was questionable whether Ludwig would be able to continue his previously existing coalition with the liberal Neos in Vienna.

Vienna election: Massive gains for the right FPÖ

The FPÖ, on the other hand, was happy about massive gains: around 23 percent for the party of FPÖ state chief Dominik Nepp and thus a doubling of the voices-but starting from a low for extreme rights in the last elections. There was only a slight minus for the Viennese Greens, a slight plus for the liberal Neos – the Vienna ÖVP had to accept a bitterness loss, but in the first forecasts it was only around eleven percent of the vote. The conservatives, which are now putting the Chancellor in the federal government, traditionally have a hard time in the Austrian capital, there is hardly any voter potential between the SPÖ and FPÖ and a clear right-wing course of the ÖVP in the election campaign probably brought an opposite effect for the ÖVP.

Above all, one topic had dominated the short election campaign in Vienna: immigration and integration. Alarming numbers, when it comes to knowledge of German with a migration background in the Vienna schools, the headlines have been dominating in Vienna for weeks, mixed with the security issue and a discussion about delinquent young people. Only in second place that data from the Foresight Institute presented that our editors are presented do the topics such as inflation, inflation or education come in the election motifs-even though the massive increased costs of living in Viennese since Corona pandemic. Even if the Austrian capital is still one of the most livable cities in Europe in international studies, the election result reflects a growing displeasure in the Viennese population.

Fallen FPÖ boss Strache fails at the five percent hurdle

Ex-FPÖ vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache also wanted to benefit from this. The fallen FPÖ boss wanted to go to the state parliament with his own list, but clearly failed due to the five percent hurdle. On the other hand, a alliance led by the Communists, who were successful in Salzburg and Styria in Salzburg and Styria, made around four percent in Vienna, owed to growing dissatisfaction with the Social Democrats in young, student voters.