Municipal and mayoral elections are taking place in Salzburg today. Why would non-Salzburgers be interested in this, even if they only know the majority of the state’s 119 municipalities by name? Because anything is possible in the state capital. Let’s look at the numbers.
1. In the city of Salzburg 112,733 citizens are eligible to vote. That is only 1.7 percent of the entire Austrian electorate. At the last election, half of eligible voters stayed at home. People were tired of politics in Salzburg. Former mayor Heinz Schaden (SPÖ) was criminally convicted in 2017. Harald Preuner (ÖVP) narrowly won the next elections, but always had very limited appeal.
2. 2024 is here no existing bonus at all. The 64-year-old Preuner decided not to walk anymore. Preuner’s party colleague Florian Kreibich and long-term challenger Bernhard Auinger (SPÖ), at 54 and 60 years old, are also not promising young talents. The co-favorite is 35-year-old Kay-Michael Dankl. Although only seven percent of all mayors are younger than 40 years old.
3. Dankl is also a communist. After Elke Kahr in Graz, he could become the second mayor of the KPÖ in a state capital. Like that? It is clear that the party is doing better in the cities than in the countryside. And in last year’s state elections, almost twelve percent voted communist. In the city of Salzburg this was more than 20 percent. But national polls show that the KPÖ is at three percent. How do you explain the huge difference – regardless of the outcome?
4. Parallels with Graz impose themselves. When Ernest Kaltenegger and his KPÖ achieved about 20 percent in 2003 and his comrade Elke Kahr, who later became mayor, achieved 28 percent, they also scored points with the housing problem. Other parties have criminally underestimated the higher rents and declining quality of life. Or no solution found.
5. This is exactly what will benefit you Also thanks. He is also eloquent and sympathetic, so much so that, like Kaltenegger and Kahr, he tries to laugh away communism’s problematic past. In a soft voice he puts forward extreme ideological positions. Is that enough? We almost certainly don’t know who will be mayor tonight. No one is likely to get more than 50 percent of the vote, so runoff elections will take place in two weeks. In both rounds everything depends on the turnout. So it remains exciting.
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.
