EU election trends

Who is ahead in Lower Austria?

The EU flag flies in front of the Landhaus in St. Pölten.(Bild: Gabriele Moser)

With 1,299,132 possible votes, Lower Austria not only has the most eligible voters, but also three prominent members of parliament. This is why the ÖVP and SPÖ - unlike the other parties - ran with their own blue and yellow top candidates. The question of the evening is: could the People's Party at least defend its "home power" here?

"Anyone who takes part in the election sends out a signal for democracy, peace and freedom," said Karl Wilfing, President of the provincial parliament, in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper. Like him, representatives of all colors therefore not only campaigned for votes for their own party, but above all for a high voter turnout. As reported, the willingness to vote has recently increased, especially among those Lower Austrians who favor EU-critical parties.

Three Lower Austrians are standing for re-election
The ÖVP and SPÖ are certainly not among them: with three prominent members of parliament, these two parties have ensured a strong blue-yellow voice in Brussels over the past five years. Günther Sidl from the SPÖ has already covered 165,000 kilometers by train to get there. During the election campaign, he made 250 appointments in his home country.

SPÖ candidate Günther Sidl voted at home in Petzenkirchen.(Bild: Crepaz Franz)

Before that, he toured the country campaigning with the red grandees Andreas Babler and Sven Hergovich.(Bild: Imre Antal)

Black dual leadership from the alliances
The ÖVP candidates were also busy: as is now almost customary, Alexander Bernhuber and Lukas Mandl, two representatives each from the Farmers' Union and the NÖAAB, stood as a double seat. While Bernhuber, a farmer from the Mostviertel region, was safely in third place on the list, Mandl only managed a shaky fifth place. In the run-up to the election, ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker from Wiener Neustadt called five seats a "good result".

Lukas Mandl was confident on Sunday: the man from Gerasdorf is fifth on the ÖVP's list and in a shaky position.(Bild: Imre Antal)

In St. Pölten, the EU parliamentarian campaigned for every vote until the very end.(Bild: Krone NÖ)

ÖVP may have saved 1st place in Lower Austria
And this may indeed have turned out to be the case: according to initial trends, Bernhuber in particular is likely to have won the ÖVP many votes from the wider region. "In view of the poor forecasts, the trend shows a reasonable result," he says. Nevertheless, the party must now question itself. It quickly became clear that the ÖVP was in first place, at least in the black heartland of Lower Austria. However, official confirmation of this did not come until 11pm.

Alexander Bernhuber (ÖVP) also lives in the Mostviertel, more precisely in Kilb.(Bild: Imre Antal)

With Defense Minister Klaudia Thanner and Farmers' Association Director Paul Nemecek at the "Bärenwirt" in Petzenkirchen.(Bild: Crepaz Franz)

SPÖ launches next election campaign
The blue-yellow SPÖ practiced optimism. The red party manager Wolfgang Zwander was pleased to report that the five mandates had been retained. However, because after the election is always before the election, he added: "The big loser of the day is the ÖVP, which lost by double digits."