Close game

Social Democrats fear for National Council mandate

Beatrix Madlener-Tonettissa, Antonio Della Rossa, Mario Leiter, Martina Dell-Osbel and Martin Staudinger.

(Bild: SPÖ Vorarlberg)

Regional party leader Mario Leiter opens the preferential vote campaign, opening up completely new opportunities for the mayor of Harden. Should Martin Staudinger overtake the leading candidate Antonio Della Rossa from Bludenz, the mayor of Unterland wants to accept the mandate in Vienna and campaign for the municipalities there.  

Getting a seat in the National Council in Vorarlberg is not hopeless for smaller parties - but it is not quite as easy as in the regional elections. In the end, the campaigning party must have between twelve and 13 percent. Whether 12.5 percent is enough depends on the voter turnout. The bottom line is: the lower it is, the "cheaper" the mandate is.

A look at the results of the most recent National Council election in 2019 shows that the SPÖ and NEOS in particular must fear for the "Ländle mandate": After losing 4.7 percent, the then SPÖ lead candidate Reinhold Einwallner finished last in the Vorarlberg National Council with 13.1 percent. Gerald Loacker (NEOS) was close behind with 13.6 percent.

Good chances for Martin Staudinger
The Vorarlberg SPÖ mandate is therefore anything but well secured. And top candidate Antonio Della Rossa does not yet have the name recognition of Reinhold Einwallner. However, the situation is quite different with Martin Staudinger, the mayor of Harden and former SPÖ provincial leader, who many people already had on their list as a possible "Einwallner successor" before Della Rossa's nomination. Although Staudinger is only running in third place on the Red Party's state list, he could still overtake the leading candidate Della Rossa.

Not without tactics, SPÖ provincial party chairman Mario Leiter hosted a press conference on Monday, presented the top four candidates on the provincial list and announced the preferential vote campaign.

Comeback in Vienna?
If Staudinger receives ten percent of the votes on the state list (in 2019, the SPÖ received around 24,200 votes, in which case 2420 preferential votes would be required) and also has more preferential votes than the two competitors ranked ahead of him, the Harder man is likely to make a comeback in Vienna.

"Before I came back to Vorarlberg and became a member of the state parliament, I worked for many years in the Ministry of Social Affairs - I would like to bring this experience to the National Council," explained Martin Staudinger at the press conference. Under Social Affairs Minister Rudolf Hundstorfer, for example, the now 45-year-old was involved in the negotiations on the minimum income reform.

In the National Council elections at the end of September, we are focusing on a preferential voting campaign in order to reach as many voters as possible

Mario Leiter, Landesparteichef der SPÖ

The two other candidates, Martina Dell-Osbel from Bregenz (2nd place on the state list) and Beatrix Madlener-Tonetti from Schlins (4th place), are likely to find it difficult to collect the 2,500 preferential votes needed to oust Antonio Della Rossa from the list.

Dell-Osbel is hoping to convince voters with ideas for better educational opportunities and equality for women. Beatrix Madlener-Tonetti's hobbyhorse is childcare and quality standards in primary education.