Innsbruck has voted

Innsbruck’s Willi: “Rarely so happy about a minus”

Innsbruck's mayor Georg Willi

(Bild: APA/EXPA/JOHANN GRODER)

The first round of the Innsbruck mayoral election has been completed and the two run-off candidates, incumbent Georg Willi (Greens) and former ÖVP deputy mayor Johannes Anzengruber (JA - Jetzt Innsbruck), were accordingly happy. Willi felt "great joy and gratitude". Anzengruber, meanwhile, saw himself as "fully involved" in the race for the mayor's seat.

The incumbent mayor felt that he had achieved both election goals - first place for the Greens in the list election and first place in the direct mayoral election.

"I've rarely been so happy about a loss"
According to Willi, the fact that the Greens had to accept losses in the municipal council election only dampened their joy a little: "I have rarely been so happy about a loss".

Willi wants to "run, run, run"
In the mayoral run-off election against Anzengruber, it is now "run, run, run". He will do everything he can to win the run-off election again. "I've also learned something new," Willi campaigned for votes.

Innsbruck's mayor Georg Willi

(Bild: APA/EXPA/JOHANN GRODER)

He is now aiming for a "progressive coalition" and once again castigated "obstructionists" in the last legislative period. Willi was not forthcoming about specific coalition options. He was more interested in implementing "major, important projects" with partners.

Anzengruber: "The result is tremendous"
The former Arzler Almwirt and ÖVP splitter Anzengruber felt "tremendous" after the result was announced. The race for the mayor's seat will be "very close", he said.

The task now was to pursue "non-party local politics". However, he did not want to think about any exploratory talks or coalitions on election night. 

Johannes Anzengruber

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Tursky dejected
Florian Tursky, leading candidate and mayoral candidate of the ÖVP-Für Innsbruck (FI) electoral alliance "das Neue Innsbruck", was crestfallen. "Of course this is a disappointing result for us," he said. It had obviously not been possible to communicate the "New Innsbruck" and the renewal behind it sufficiently in advance. 

It was definitely clear that he would remain in Innsbruck and on the municipal council: "Now it's a matter of seeing who becomes mayor and how the mandates are distributed". They are open in many directions, but will wait and see: "What is clear is that we want to work together."

FPÖ leader and mayoral candidate Markus Lassenberger reacted cautiously and pragmatically to the election result. Personally, however, he had expected "to make it to the run-off".

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

FPÖ does not want to have seen mistakes in the election campaign
He did not want to recognize any mistakes in the election campaign: "We did our utmost." Now it is important to take a wait-and-see approach and act strategically: "We'll see what the next few weeks bring and we're basically open to anything."

SPÖ sees "new start", great joy among KPÖ 
The SPÖ's lead candidate, city councillor Elisabeth Mayr, saw her party's result as a "new start for social democracy". The downer remains the narrowly missed run-off election. KPÖ leader Pia Tomedi, whose list surprisingly made it onto the municipal council, had every reason to be happy. "This is incredible, simply fantastic," said Tomedi enthusiastically. She sees the election result as a "mission" and now "the work really begins".