“A lot is at stake,” said Gov. Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) repeatedly ahead of Sunday’s elections. Polls show that the ÖVP is promised heavy losses, but remains the strongest in the country. There is a big story behind Lower Austria’s preference for the ÖVP, explains Nikolaus Frings, head of service and journalist for the Lower Austrian “Krone Zeitung” in an interview with Jana Pasching. Much has already been decided in the elections on Sunday, and yet everything is open.
“The ÖVP Lower Austria as a state party has more party members than the SPÖ in the federal government,” says Frings. “It is the home power of the ÖVP, also in the federal government. If it crumbles – and the absolute will certainly be gone – then something will crumble in the federal government.” Accordingly, anything below 40 percent could also have federal political ramifications, Frings said.
The ÖVP bias in Lower Austria has grown historically. “Lower Austria is an agricultural state and where there is agriculture, there is inevitably also the farmers’ association, where the former governor Erwin Proell, but also the state deputy Stephan Pernkopf come from,” says Frings.
What heads may shake after the election, how useful surveys are and more information can be seen in the conversation with Nikolaus Frings in the video above.
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Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.