60 percent of the vote
Anzengruber knocks Willi off the mayor’s throne
The run-off election is over and the new mayor of Innsbruck is Johannes Anzengruber. The outsider won against the incumbent mayor Georg Willi with 59.59 to 40.41 percent of the vote.
Anzengruber (JA - Jetzt Innsbruck list) thus ousted the Green Party's Willi from the mayoral throne of the Tyrolean capital after just one term in office. In the direct mayoral election two weeks ago, the previous incumbent Willi was still ahead with 22.89 percent. Anzengruber achieved 19.37 percent at the time.
The newly elected mayor was "overwhelmed" in his first reaction. "It is a sign of all the people of Innsbruck who have placed their trust in me. This gives me strength for the future," he told the "Krone" newspaper. There will be celebrations today, but tomorrow, Monday, there will still be an early start to exploratory talks.
Willi wants to become deputy mayor
It remains to be seen whether it will actually be the presumed three-way coalition of JA - Jetzt Innsbruck, the Greens and the SPÖ. Asked about his preferred coalition, Anzengruber remained vague on Sunday after his election victory: "A stable coalition is important."
In an initial reaction, Georg Willi, who was voted out of office, declared that he was entering the new period with optimism and with the strongest parliamentary group - the Greens. He announced that he wanted to become deputy mayor under Anzengruber.
Own list followed after break with ÖVP
With his victory, Johannes Anzengruber, the former landlord of the Arzler Alm, has achieved a political feat that observers recently considered unlikely. When the then state secretary Florian Tursky (ÖVP) and not he was put forward as the top candidate for the electoral alliance of ÖVP, Für Innsbruck and Seniorenbund, he made the break and announced his own candidacy under the banner "JA - Jetzt Innsbruck".
The recipe for success was probably also the composition of his list. Aside from his long-time comrade-in-arms, former ÖVP local councillor Mariella Lutz, Anzengruber presented a whole host of new candidates.
About the person
Born in 1979, Johannes Anzengruber is married and has two children. He graduated from HTL Anichstraße and worked in the IT department of tirol kliniken before taking over Arzler Alm. He also studied health sciences.
Voter turnout at 51 percent
51,749 Innsbruck residents cast their votes on the run-off election Sunday, resulting in a voter turnout of 51.46 percent - a sharp drop compared to the first round of voting two weeks ago (60.5 percent).
From expelled and hunted ÖVP member to mayor of Innsbruck. Johannes Anzengruber has achieved what few thought he could. He is the mayor of Innsbruck. The 44-year-old won the run-off election with just under 60:40 percent of the vote. In the end, the result was clearer than many thought. It is confirmation of his stamina and his straightforward path without any undercutting. And the biggest defeat of all for the Tyrolean and Innsbruck People's Party.
In the week before the election, Mattle, Tursky and Co still believed that they would definitely make it to the run-off. But the voters were not dazzled by posters and money and punished the Black Party. Even in the last two weeks before the run-off election, the Blacks tried to throw punches at Anzengruber's legs and to pester him.
But it was all to no avail. Anzengruber is mayor. And he has come to stay. The black grandees know that very well. Memories of 1994 come flooding back: back then, the "shafted" Herwig van Staa became mayor. But unlike van Staa, Anzengruber was elected by the people. This is because direct elections have only existed since 2012.
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