No city leader post

Same fate as Kickl: 1st place and yet no victory

Stefan Felsleitner (left), FPÖ, wanted to become head of the village, Hubert Postiasi, ÖVP, wants to stay. It remains to be seen who he will form a coalition with.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/ZVG Privat)

The same fate as his party leader Herbert Kickl has now befallen FPÖ top candidate Stefan Felsleitner in Pernitz. Although he won the most votes in the local council elections, he will probably not be allowed to co-govern. 

Freedom Party jubilation just four weeks ago in Pernitz in the district of Wiener Neustadt: the FPÖ won six seats and 26.6 percent of the vote out of nowhere. The ÖVP mayoral party, on the other hand, lost two seats and only achieved 26%.

"I assume that I will not become mayor"
FPÖ leader Stefan Felsleitner had already positioned himself as a "mayoral candidate" during the election campaign. "In the meantime, however, I assume that I won't become mayor," he now says. There have already been talks with the ÖVP - but without result. For the FPÖ, a compromise "half-time solution" with the ÖVP would also have been conceivable. Negotiations had also been held with the Greens in the meantime. "It was a harmonious discussion. But in the end they said, we can't vote for you, you're a blue party," Felsleitner explains.

Still no clear answer from the incumbent mayor 
The incumbent ÖVP mayor Hubert Postiasi is very tight-lipped on the subject. "We are still negotiating," says Postiasi, who now has to look for two coalition partners due to too few mandates. He is not revealing who these parties will be - the SPÖ, Greens and Liste Miteinander are on the ballot. Nor when a final result can be expected.