Urban-rural divide

FPÖ won across the board – except in large cities

(Bild: APA/Roland Schlager)

The National Council elections on - like the federal presidential and European elections - revealed massive differences in voting behavior between cities and rural communities. The Freedom Party won almost everywhere, but the SPÖ was ahead in large cities, where the Greens and NEOS were in double figures.

The FPÖ gained votes in almost all municipalities - but performed particularly well in rural areas and in smaller towns and suburbs. Together with the ÖVP, there is a clear majority to the right of center here. The big cities are quite different: here the SPÖ is the strongest party, with the Greens and NEOS in double figures.

ÖVP and FPÖ strongest in the countryside
As the municipal results calculated by Foresight for APA and ORF show, the FPÖ received 33% of the valid votes in rural areas. Almost half of blue voters live in sparsely populated regions of Austria. The ÖVP also achieved its best results here, almost catching up with the Freedom Party with 31.8%.

This means that the FPÖ and ÖVP are each stronger in rural areas than the SPÖ, Greens and NEOS combined. Together, the three parties only achieve a total of 30 percent there. In the smaller cities and suburbs, the FPÖ is also ahead with 29.8% - and even more clearly ahead of the ÖVP (24.9%) than in rural areas.

SPÖ clearly ahead in large cities
The picture is quite different in the large cities: Vienna, Graz, Linz and Innsbruck stand out as red dots on the otherwise blue and turquoise colored district map. Here, the SPÖ (27.7%) is ahead of the FPÖ (21.7%) and ÖVP (18.9%). The majority "blue" Carinthian cities of Klagenfurt and Villach are an exception. The Greens (12.4 percent) and NEOS (11.0 percent) also achieved their best results in the major cities.

For the FPÖ, however, the relative weakness in the urban centers is probably easy to get over, as the Freedom Party also made gains here compared to 2019. In fact, the blue party only suffered losses in two municipalities in this election (Tschanigraben and Jungholz).

Not a single municipality saw a gain for the ÖVP
The SPÖ made gains in Vienna's inner districts in particular, where the Greens suffered massive losses. And the picture is bitter for the ÖVP. It came in second place. However, the Turquoise Party did not make gains in a single municipality.

Incidentally, the picture is completely different for the minor parties: While the KPÖ would have narrowly made it into the National Council in the larger cities with 4.1 percent, it only managed 1.5 percent in the rural communities. The Beer Party, on the other hand, remained well below the mandate threshold with around two percent in both rural and urban areas.