"Krone" commentary

Linz is not different (after all)

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/ Alexander Schwarzl, Markus Wenzel)

The first round of elections for the office of Mayor of Linz ended with a surprise - namely that there was none (after all). Dietmar Prammer won a clear 40 percent as the SPÖ's top candidate. And showed that Linz is not different (after all). Despite the inglorious departure of his predecessor, Klaus Luger, the departure of SPÖ state chairman Michael Lindner from politics and the collapse of coalition negotiations at federal level, the city's Reds were able to defend their fortress.

For FPÖ top candidate Michael Raml, Herbert Kickl's soon-to-be-chancellor bonus did not - as many had assumed in advance - turn into a turbo. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning at this point: Raml achieved (after all) the best election result in the history of the City Blue Party.

While the FPÖ member was hoping for a national tailwind, his rival Martin Hajart did exactly the opposite - he "hid" his ÖVP affiliation with a missing party logo and chose the color purple for his poster campaigns. Nevertheless, this did not help him.

What was equally unsurprising on this day, but should nevertheless give food for thought, was the meagre voter turnout. Just 42 percent of Linzers took the opportunity to cast their vote. There will be a second chance to make use of this important right to vote on January 26 - hopefully there will at least be a real surprise then...