“Day of the People’s Party” – This is how the parties celebrate the Carinthian election results

After the sobering result of the SPÖ became clear, the first rumors arose: will the election party be cancelled? Is LH Peter Kaiser no longer showing up at all? “No”, was the clear answer of regional manager Andreas Sucher: Of course we would meet for a beer, we couldn’t take that away.

And then the mood slowly improved and the governor was received with song. Party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner came by and the party was civilized: Puntigamer to toast, pats on the back for the emperor, small talk at high tables, no music.

“GruBär”, visit from polka and chancellor
On the other side of the city center there was an exuberant party atmosphere: the ÖVP sang and danced, the “GruBär” heated up the partygoers, the Lesachtal deputy mayor Bernhard Knotz played the accordion. Top candidate Martin Gruber was celebrated.

Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who was received with chants of “Our chancellor, our chancellor, hey, hey hey”, also supported. He thanked officials and voters and congratulated Gruber: “It’s the day of Martin Gruber and the People’s Party. It’s a good day for the Carinthian People’s Party and therefore also for Carinthia!”

The Carinthian team, who had already hung yellow balloons in the “teatro” in the early afternoon, were quite sure of their celebration. In the evening, however, there was little atmosphere and the restaurant remained scarce. Later, when Klagenfurt’s mayor Christian Scheider was still there, top candidate Gerhard Koefer had already said goodbye.

A few meters away, in the Corso at Pfarrplatz, blue and white balloons adorned the front door: Erwin Angerer and the entire FPÖ celebrated their small win.