Reactions from Vorarlberg – The Greens fall in the elections, but want to help govern

The result, a minus of almost five percentage points, was a “clear vote for Governor Markus Wallner and for the Vorarlberger Weg,” said Stocker.

The ‘serious work’ has paid off
At a time when political polarization is increasing, the Vorarlberg People’s Party has proven “that it can win and maintain the trust of the middle of society through pragmatic politics,” said the black Secretary General.

“The calm and serious work” of the ÖVP from Vorarlberg has paid off, Wallner will “continue to consistently follow the path of Vorarlberg,” Stocker emphasized. Chancellor Karl Nehammer again saw “a significantly better result than many people expected from the People’s Party.” “Stability and honest political work for the people were valued,” he wrote on X.

More than six percentage points is “a minus that hurts,” Maurer said at party headquarters in Vienna. But it is ‘good for the country’ that ‘a stable, reliable government with the Greens is possible’.

“Ball at Wallner”
As things stand now, the ÖVP and the Greens have 19 mandates, just over half of the 36 mandates in the Vorarlberger Landhaus. “But the ball is now in Markus Wallner’s court. Is he going with the Greens towards the future or with the FPÖ towards the past?”

The reason for her party’s poor result was that Wallner had called for a duel with the FPÖ in advance and the Greens therefore lost many votes to the ÖVP. These are all voices that do not want the FPÖ to participate in government, Maurer said.