State elections in the state: will the farmer finally defeat the king?

Vorarlberg was previously an ÖVP country. Deep black, even to the furthest corners. The ÖVP has never fallen below the 40 percent mark in a state election, and its claim to power has never been even remotely questioned. In any case, these times seem to be over since the National Council elections, in which the FPÖ ‘sniffed’ the People’s Party to within two percent. This is captured by a phrase that Governor Markus Wallner has repeated like a mantra in recent days: “It’s about everything.” Followed by an addition that is almost auto-suggestive: ‘Second place is unthinkable for us.’

State governor promotes “Vorarlberger Weg”
Wallner, who has been in power since 2011 and is therefore the longest-serving state leader in Austria, put in a lot of effort in the final election campaign and campaigned for a “clear mandate from the voters” – for his party, but even more so for himself. Its central message is: it is about staying true to the “Vorarlberg Way”. Vorarlberg still stands out from the federal government and other regions in Europe in terms of style, choice of words and the way it handles financial resources.

In a country that divides its national territory without any irony into ‘Vorarlberg’ and ‘Rest of Austria’, it is, as it were, part of folklore to curse ‘those in Vienna’ and praise itself as a ‘model country’. The problem: this story no longer holds up. The crisis of recent years has left its mark – and some of them are deeper than in other states. Vorarlberg has fallen into mediocrity in almost all economic parameters. This is primarily due to the fact that the export-oriented industry is feeling the full force of the geopolitical upheavals and less so to the state government; such nuances are quickly lost in times of election campaigns.

Even more threatening for the ÖVP is the fact that inflation has made life worse for many people in Vorarlberg in particular; the extremely high housing costs are no longer affordable for many families. In recent decades, the ÖVP has focused its housing policy almost exclusively on promoting real estate ownership, in line with the earlier narrative “Schaffa, schaffa, Hüsle baua”, but the share of non-profit housing is lower than in any other federal state. – and that will now be the case Boomerang.

Libertarians focus on core black issues
One person who knows how to attack the ÖVP’s open flanks is FPÖ state chairman Christof Bitschi. During the election campaign he cleverly focused on the subject of location policy. After the trials and tribulations of the Black-Green Party, “Vorarlberg must be put back on track” – a phrase that must sound like a mockery to the ÖVP business party. It is also important to put families at the center of politics; this focus should also be very familiar to black people.

Perhaps even more important is what Bitschi spared himself from saying: unlike federal FPÖ chairman Herbert Kickl, whose biggest “fanboy” he is reportedly not after all, there were no verbal blunders to be heard from the 33 -year old -old. This restraint has already brought him success: unlike in the federal government, Vorarlberg’s vice-president has opened the door wide to a coalition with the FPÖ; black and blue is even preferred.

The “little ones” are in danger of falling under the wheels
This is partly because affection for the coalition partner of the past two terms, the Greens, has noticeably cooled recently. However, the fact that the election campaign has escalated in recent weeks into a duel between the ÖVP and FPÖ could prove to be a much bigger problem for the Eco Party, which is aggressively campaigning for a revival of the Black-Green coalition. The risk of coming under the wheels is high. This applies even more to the SPÖ and NEOS, which also aim to participate in the government in the form of a coalition with the ÖVP. The only question that arises is whether this will even work mathematically.