ÖVP on the sidelines

Mayoral election: Red-red revolution in Salzburg

Kay-Michael Dankl and Bernhard Auinger have made it to the run-off.(Bild: APA/Barbara Gindl)

Will the city of Mozart be governed by social democrats or "Danklrot" again in the future? With the SPÖ and the KPÖ, the two left-of-center parties made it into the run-off election on March 24. The ÖVP, on the other hand, is on the sidelines after a bitter defeat in the city of Salzburg. 

The super election year started in Salzburg - and at least in the capital - with a real bang. The communist Kay-Michael Dankl achieved more than just a respectable success and made it to the run-off in the mayoral election with 28 percent. There he will have to duel with SPÖ candidate Bernhard Auinger the Sunday after next, who was ahead with 29.37 percent.

SPÖ in first place in the city of Salzburg
The final result of the municipal council election in the city of Salzburg: the SPÖ (25.59%) won eleven seats, the KPÖ (23.12%) ten, the Greens (12.72%) five, the FPÖ (10.77%) four and the NEOS (3.50%) and the SALZ list (2.72%) one seat each. 

The exciting election Sunday to read up on.

Kay-Michael Dankl and Bernhard Auinger made it to the run-off.(Bild: APA/Barbara Gindl)

Black evening for ÖVP in Salzburg City, but in first place nationwide
It was a black evening for the ÖVP. In the 2019 election, the party benefited from the turquoise rise under then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Now they lost the coveted mayor's seat again, but at least partially remained the "force in the country". In Radstadt and Kuchl, for example, the ÖVP was able to assert itself as the mayoral party.

SPÖ leader Babler was in Hamburg
However, the SPÖ was not only successful in the city of Mozart, but also came up trumps in other cities such as Hallein and Zell am See. All this without the help of SPÖ leader Andreas Babler, who was in Hamburg, spoke at the SPD party conference on Saturday and attended a soccer match there on Sunday.

But he wants to come to the run-off election. And the outcome of this red-red mayoral duel is completely open, as political professor Peter Filzmaier points out.

Memories of the presidential election 
"This is a new election. I remember the 2016 presidential election, where Norbert Hofer from the FPÖ was 14 percent ahead in the first round, but Alexander Van der Bellen won. The same voters don't go to the polls in the second round, and the same voters don't stay away. Many have to make a second choice because their first choice is no longer in the running."

This means that no predictions can be made and the election is open. No conclusions can be drawn about federal politics either. Voters in the city make up 1.7 percent - those from the federal state seven percent - of all voters in Austria.

"It's touch and go for the KPÖ"
According to Filzmaier, the results are "at most motivating within the party". For the KPÖ, it's "touch and go". "The Communists have achieved results of over 20 percent in Graz since 2003, but have never made it into the National Council. They don't have a driving force nationwide."

Theoretically, the KPÖ could hope to win a basic mandate in Graz or Salzburg. However, it is not just the city that counts here, but also the surrounding area, which makes it difficult.