Government Crisis Casts Shadow Over Vienna Election

In Vienna this year, a new municipal council or state parliament and the district representations will be elected. What usually attracts a lot of attention is now getting additional tension due to the events at the federal level. This affects, for example, the election date. Initial voices have already been raised to combine the ballot with a new federal election - should one occur.

As it stands, the Vienna election is scheduled for the fall. The last election was in October 2020. Although there are traditionally always rumors about an early Vienna election, there have been no signs so far of not fully exhausting the five-year legislative period.

Crisis at the Federal Level Adds Additional Tension to the Vienna Election Year

If a new federal election were to occur, this debate is likely to arise. Vienna's FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp has already started. In an interview with the ORF program "Wien Heute" on Saturday evening, he advocated combining the Vienna election and the National Council election if the latter occurs. "Because this also saves a lot of costs in times of a tight budget," was his argument.

There has already been an early election in the recent past. In 2001, the election was not in the fall, but in March. The then mayor and SPÖ leader Michael Häupl decided - while Schwarz-Blau was ruling at the federal level for the first time - against the will of the coalition partner ÖVP to take this step. The election promptly gave the SPÖ an absolute majority of mandates.

The SPÖ currently governs under party leader and Mayor Michael Ludwig with the NEOS. There has been virtually no public dispute so far. An early election thus seemed excluded so far. Whether the departure of the Pink from the coalition talks at the federal level will worsen the climate is open. The head of the Vienna NEOS, Deputy Mayor Christoph Wiederkehr, has already expressly praised the good cooperation with the Vienna Reds after the failure of the negotiations.

ÖVP Laments Loss of Significance of the Vienna Reds

Surprisingly, words of recognition for the Viennese SPÖ also came from another side - namely from the ÖVP. The turquoise Viennese state party chairman Karl Mahrer lamented after the conversation ended that the "reasonable forces" in the SPÖ could not have prevailed. He noted that the influence of the once powerful Viennese SPÖ has waned.

The Greens - who have governed with the SPÖ from 2010 to 2020 - completely refrained from praise: Party leaders Judith Pühringer and Peter Kraus expressed harsh criticism: "One thing unites ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS now: All three parties are shirking their responsibility to establish a viable government in the midst of this crisis-ridden time." The three parties would pave the way for right-wing populists and extremists. From the "no more as before" has become a 'worse than ever before', the Green top duo opined.

Exchange of Blows Between Viennese FPÖ and ÖVP

And already on Sunday, there were initial intense confrontations - namely between FPÖ and ÖVP. "After the resignation of Federal Chancellor Nehammer, it is high time that the Viennese ÖVP chairman Karl Mahrer also steps down," demanded the state party secretary of the Viennese Blues, Lukas Brucker.

Mahrer had distinguished himself as one of the leading heads of the undemocratic anti-Kickl faction within the ÖVP and always excluded supporting a coalition with FPÖ leader and election winner Herbert Kickl, Brucker justified the step. Mahrer, on the other hand, had longed for a coalition with the "Marxist Andreas Babler".

In the Viennese ÖVP, they saw a "transparent attempt" to divert pressure from the Viennese state group of the FPÖ. This was apparently being steered by the federal FPÖ and its chairman Herbert Kickl, suspected VP state managing director Peter Sverak.

"It is quite remarkable: As soon as the pressure on Dominik Nepp and the Viennese FPÖ increases from their federal headquarters, they react with attacks on Karl Mahrer and the Viennese People's Party," Sverak said. Instead of tackling Vienna's real challenges, the Viennese FPÖ is resorting to its usual game of distraction by smearing. The attack shows that the ÖVP sees the greatest competition in the Vienna election.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.