Three "red" municipalities

ÖVP dominance continues despite losses in Amstetten

Anton Kasser (head of Allhartsberg), district party chairman Andreas Hanger and member of parliament Bernhard Ebner were delighted.(Bild: Franz Crepaz)

Even if the FPÖ makes gains, the district of Amstetten remains firmly in black hands: as in the last municipal elections in 2020, the SPÖ is in the lead in only three of the 34 municipalities.

The long-lasting SPÖ dominance came to an abrupt end in the 2020 municipal elections in Amstetten - the ÖVP achieved an increase of 18.38% with lateral entrant Christian Haberhauer at the helm. And Gerhard Riegler, the SPÖ's top candidate, did not stand a chance against his black opponent this year either: The ÖVP took 43.3 percent of the vote, the SPÖ 32.6 percent - the FPÖ climbed from 5.5 to 16 percent.

What is no longer possible, however, is a coalition between the ÖVP and the Greens (4.94%) - together they only have 20 seats, 21 seats are required for a majority in the municipal council. This will presumably please the Reds - even before the election, all signs were pointing to a "cuddly course" with the ÖVP. The rest of the district also remains firmly in black hands - only the municipalities of Hollenstein an der Ybbs, St. Valentin and Ennsdorf went to the Reds, as in 2020.

"Lord mayor" lost votes
Austria's "Lord Mayor" Johannes Pressl (ÖVP) had to accept narrow losses. The president of the Association of Municipalities lost around nine percent and two seats in his municipality of Ardagger.