The first round of the mayoral elections in Innsbruck was won and the two candidates for the second round, the incumbent Georg Willi (Greens) and former ÖVP deputy mayor Johannes Anzengruber (YES – Now Innsbruck), were correspondingly happy. Willi felt “great joy and gratitude” while Anzengruber saw himself “fully involved” in the race for the mayoral seat.
The incumbent mayor saw both election goals – first place for the Greens in the list elections and first place in the direct mayoral elections – achieved.
“I have rarely been so happy with a negative”
According to Willi, the fact that the Greens suffered losses in the municipal elections only dampened their joy a little: “I have rarely been so happy with a loss.”
Willi wants to ‘run, run, run’
In the mayoral elections against Anzengruber it is now ‘run, run, run’. He will do everything he can to win the second round again. “I also learned something new,” Willi appealed to vote.
He now strives for a “progressive coalition” and has again denounced “obstacles” in the past legislature. Willi has not revealed his cards regarding specific coalition variants. For him, it is more about realizing “large, important projects” with partners.
Anzengruber: “Great result”
Former Arzler Almwirt and ÖVP breakout Anzengruber felt “great” after the result was announced. The race for mayor will be “very exciting,” he said.
Now it is important to engage in “party-free local politics”. However, he did not want to think about explorations or coalitions on election night.
Tursky bowed
Florian Tursky, top and mayoral candidate of the electoral alliance ÖVP-For Innsbruck (FI) “the New Innsbruck”, expressed his frustration. “Of course this is a disappointing result for us,” he said. Apparently it was not possible to adequately communicate the “New Innsbruck” and the innovation behind it in advance.
It is clear that he will remain in Innsbruck and on the city council: “Now it is a matter of seeing who will become mayor and what the distribution of mandates will look like.” They are open in many directions, but for now they are waiting: “It is clear that we want to work together.”
FPÖ top and mayoral candidate Markus Lassenberger reacted cautiously and pragmatically to the election results. Personally, he expected to “get into the second round.”
FPÖ claims not to have seen any mistakes in the election campaign
He did not want to acknowledge mistakes in the election campaign: ‘We did our best.’ Now is the time to take a wait-and-see approach and act strategically wise: ‘We’ll see what the next few weeks bring. we are basically open to everything.”
SPÖ sees “new start”, great joy at KPÖ
SPÖ top candidate municipal councilor Elisabeth Mayr saw her party’s results as a “new start for social democracy”. The disadvantage remains the narrowly missed second election round. KPÖ frontwoman Pia Tomedi had every reason to be happy, whose list had surprisingly ended up in the city council. “This is incredible, just amazing,” Tomedi enthused. She views the election results as a “committee” and now “the work really begins.”
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.
