Districts Hotly Contested in Vienna Election

In the Vienna election on April 27, not only will the city council be newly elected, but the dominance in the 23 districts of the federal capital will also be determined. Currently, 17 districts are governed by the SPÖ, with the ÖVP and the Greens each providing the district leader in three districts. In many districts, no change in power is expected, but some are once again hotly contested this time - especially Simmering, where the FPÖ wants to reclaim the leadership position lost in 2020.

Twelve Districts Always Red Since 1946

The faction that emerges as the strongest from the district council election has the right to propose the district leader. Although the largest Viennese districts Donaustadt and Favoriten have more inhabitants than Linz, the district councils have relatively little real political power. Nevertheless, the positions as "district emperor" are coveted. In many districts, the same party has dominated for decades. In 13 of the 23 districts, there has never been a change of power since 1946 - twelve of them have always been red, while the first district (Innere Stadt) has always been governed by the black party.

The election is once again exciting in the large districts, where the FPÖ wants to reclaim lost ground from the last election. They are given realistic chances, especially in Simmering, where they already had their first and so far only district leader between 2015 and 2020. The 68-year-old Paul Stadler, who had to vacate the seat five years ago, is running again this time. It is probably due to the personable former entrepreneur that the Blues recorded the smallest loss in Simmering during the disastrous blue election defeat in 2020 and achieved by far the best result with 28.44 percent of the votes. At the municipal level, only half as many voters simultaneously voted for the Freedom Party.

FPÖ Has Floridsdorf in Its Sights for Vienna Election

In addition to Simmering, the Viennese FPÖ also has its sights set on the other large districts and traditional SPÖ strongholds Floridsdorf, Donaustadt, and Favoriten. Here, the Blues had already come dangerously close to the SPÖ ten years ago, in Floridsdorf to within 1.21 percentage points. At the municipal level, the Blues were even the strongest party in the 21st district in 2015. In the national council election last autumn, the FPÖ also came in first place in the home district of Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ). However, the red district leader Georg Papai, who has been in office since 2014, goes into the election with a comfortable lead: in 2020, the district SPÖ achieved more than four times as many votes as the FPÖ (9.64) with 44.52 percent.

The ÖVP has been in retreat in the Viennese districts for years. Despite the good election result at the municipal level, the People's Party was only able to hold its strongholds Innere Stadt, Hietzing, and Döbling in the last election in 2020. The ÖVP lost Josefstadt to the Greens for the second time, and five years earlier, Währing had already gone to the eco-party. Until 2010, the now red-governed Wieden was also a black stronghold. Mariahilf was long a kind of "swing state" between the SPÖ and the ÖVP, but since 2001, the Reds have also gained the upper hand here. Even in the Innere Stadt, the SPÖ had already come dangerously close to the People's Party (25.68) with 24.18 percent ten years ago.

New Construction as a Green Stronghold

The Greens are encroaching on traditionally conservative bastions and urban districts within the belt. The quintessential Green stronghold has been the trendy 7th district (Neubau) since 2001. Back then, Thomas Blimlinger came to power as the first Green district leader with 32.55 percent of the votes. During his 16-year tenure, Blimlinger was able to expand the Green dominance. Since then, the Greens have consistently achieved over 40 percent. The current district leader, Markus Reiter, took office in 2017. In the 2020 election, the Greens achieved 44.91 percent, more than twice as much as the second-placed SPÖ.

Additionally, the conservatively influenced districts of Währing (since 2015) and Josefstadt (since 2020 and previously from 2005 to 2010) are Green-led. In the past, the otherwise always red Leopoldstadt was also temporarily governed by the Greens (2016-2020). The fact that this was only for four and not five years was due to a repeat of the 2015 election. It had to be conducted again nearly a year later due to discrepancies in the postal vote count during the first round - which ended with a Green success.

Favoriten Among SPÖ Strongholds

The red strongholds include Favoriten (2020: 47.40), Donaustadt (45.08), Brigittenau (45.02), Floridsdorf (44.52), Meidling (42), Simmering (41.49), and Liesing (40.40). Since 1946, the districts of Landstraße, Margareten, Favoriten, Meidling, Penzing, Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, Ottakring, Hernals, Brigittenau, Floridsdorf, Donaustadt, and Liesing have always had a red district leader. The NEOS will likely not be able to compete in the "district emperor" match this time either. Their strongest district result was achieved in 2020 in the first district with 11.06 percent.

The personality of the district leaders does play a role in the election. The fact that voters distinguish between municipal and district levels when casting their votes is evident in the sometimes significantly different election results. Also, the circle of eligible voters is larger at the district level, as citizens of other EU states are also eligible to vote here.

(APA/Red)

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