Election decided

Daughter succeeds father in mayoral office

Christina Mühlböck-Oppolzer and her father Mario, who was her predecessor.

(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

Exciting mayoral election in Wilhering on the day of the EU elections throughout the country. The election was necessary because long-term mayor Mario Mühlböck retired for health reasons. His successor is now his daughter, and in the first round of voting.

Exciting mayoral election in Wilhering on the day of the EU elections across the country. In the end, the SPÖ candidate, Christina Mühlböck-Oppolzer, only narrowly avoided a run-off. She won with 50.2 percent of the vote against her ÖVP challenger Markus Langthaler, who received 45.97 percent of the vote. Voter turnout was extremely high at 81.56% of those eligible. 4042 votes were cast, 44 of which were invalid.

Father as predecessor
The election became necessary because long-term mayor Mario Mühlböck (SP) had to resign from office for health reasons. His daughter Christine Mühlböck-Oppolzer is already running the business on an interim basis. At 80, former Green Party member of parliament Doris Eisenriegler also ventured a comeback into politics. She received 153 votes in the election, or 3.83 percent.

Nine votes were missing
"It's bitter, of course. I was nine votes short of a run-off. But on the other hand, this was the best ÖVP result in Wilhering in the last 30 years. I'm proud of that," says Markus Langthaler, who is a fair but also a little crestfallen loser. After the election result, he now expects cooperation on an equal footing