No shift to the right

Innsbruck turns the election result on its head

Innsbruck City Hall

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

The nationwide ranking in the EU elections was turned on its head in the provincial capital: First place for SPÖ, Greens second, for dominator FPÖ it was only enough for fourth place. The ÖVP loses half of its 2019 votes.

A red ray of hope that the comrades in Vienna may not even notice because they have other, more serious problems: This is the election result for the SPÖ in Innsbruck. Despite a drop in voter turnout (from 59.7% in 2019 to 52%), they were able to maintain their share of the vote almost down to the last vote: 9995 votes in 2019, exactly 100 fewer this time. In percentage terms, however, the bottom line is an increase of 4% - and thus first place with 23.51% of the vote, well above the national result of 17.98%.

The FPÖ also has reason to be pleased, having also gained 4%. However, they cannot be satisfied with 18.13% overall in Innsbruck, when it was almost 24% throughout Tyrol.

Symbolic image.

(Bild: P. Huber)

 Coalition VP and Greens punished in Innsbruck
The Neos could also be satisfied if they had not been kicked out of the municipal council in the April elections. They rose from 11 to 13.5% (plus 2.49%). The KPÖ, which also ran in 2019, achieved 4.44% or 1,869 votes. However, this is a pale imitation of what was achieved in the GR election, when the ALI and KPÖ together gained almost 7000 votes. Which brings us to the parties with a deep red minus in front of their results. First and foremost, the Greens. In 2019, they were still on a par with the ÖVP, who won the election at the time (26 to 26.95%), but this time they lost 5,176 votes. Almost as bad as the Chancellor's party itself: Here it was just under 6000.

View of Innsbruck's old town from the city tower.

(Bild: Manuel Schwaiger)

Black-Green at federal level: punished in Innsbruck 
The coalition partners at federal level, the VP and the Greens, were the ones who were punished in Innsbruck - and therefore the only ones with a minus before the result. The provincial party ÖVP, however, is looking past this in a friendly manner. Joy about first place in Tyrol prevails. And about having kept the FPÖ at bay by the widest margin of all the federal states. However, 18.72% for the Black Party is a bitter pill that has to be digested first. Almost half of the almost 14,000 votes they once received were lost.

The fact that the People's Party often has a problem in urban areas is also shown by the results in the district capitals. Kitzbühel stands out here, where after a drop of 17.24%, 31.7% are still left for the VP.

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Innsbruck has voted again - and essentially confirmed the result of the municipal council and mayoral elections in April. Since then, there has been a deep red-red-green phalanx in the Innsbruck municipal council, which has 19 seats out of 40, i.e. almost half - not including the mayoral faction JA, mind you. In the EU elections, the SPÖ, Greens and Communists achieved 47.4 percent. The shift to the right that can be observed across Europe did not take place in Innsbruck.

And there is another peculiarity in Innsbruck: contrary to the national trend, the SPÖ did not stagnate here, but increased by 4% and even became the party with the most votes. Probably also at the expense of the KPÖ. What do these developments mean? The party strategists of the ÖVP and FPÖ must be alarmed. They are clearly not succeeding in bringing the PS, which undoubtedly exists in the country, to the ground in urban areas.

In Innsbruck, the Blue Party is bobbing along at 18.13%, the Black Party at 18.7%. Of course, comparing EU and other elections is like comparing apples and pears. But Innsbruck cannot decouple itself from the EU-relevant issues (security, etc.). They will also impact here.