Franz Frosch (ÖVP)

Mayor quits: Tension in Bad Aussee

Franz Frosch, Mayor of Bad Aussee

(Bild: Jürgen Radspieler)

The political cards are being reshuffled in the spa town of Bad Aussee: Mayor Franz Frosch (ÖVP) is retiring after twelve years in office, but the SPÖ, Greens and FPÖ are also running with new top candidates. 

The list of prominent mayors who are no longer standing for election in the municipal council elections on March 23 is getting longer and longer in the district of Liezen: Ernst Fischbacher (Ramsau) and Stefan Knapp (Haus) are retiring, and a new political era is also dawning in Bad Aussee. This time, Franz Frosch is not the top candidate for the People's Party, but the former local councillor Thomas Schönauer. 

"I will be 66 years old in a few months and I also have to look after my health. It's time for a generational change," Frosch tells "Krone". "I have always said that I will remain in office for the entire term. Now it's up to the voters to decide." Frosch was on the municipal council for almost 40 years and most recently served as mayor for twelve years - before him, Bad Aussee was politically "red".

The election is likely to be particularly interesting in the spa town: The SPÖ (Robert Magotti, the current 2nd deputy mayor), the Greens (Wolfgang Feldhammer), who are often strong in Ausseerland, and the FPÖ (Reinhold Bauer), who have not been represented in the municipal council at all recently, also have new top candidates, so the cards will be completely reshuffled.

Many mayors are standing down
The list of Styrian mayors who are no longer running as top candidates in March is even longer with Franz Platzer (Heiligenkreuz am Waasen), Cäcilia Spreitzer (St. Georgen am Kreischberg), Leopold Bartsch (Pinggau), Johann Hansbauer (St. Martin am Wöllmißberg), Johann Weidinger (St. Anna am Aigen), Ewald Peer (Weißkirchen) and Wolfgang Schlick (Stadl-Predlitz). In addition, there have been more than 80 mayoral changes since the last election in 2020 - that promises a lot of excitement.