Kucher ahead of Darmann

Preferential votes: Red loser is also the winner

Kucher has reason to be upset, Darmann is just behind him.

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek/Mario Urbantschitsch)

After the election is before the comparison: the preferential votes have finally been counted. Meanwhile, the Carinthian state parliament is caught between the judiciary and Vienna.

The SPÖ actually has little reason to celebrate after the election defeat. In Carinthia, it was relegated to second place by the Freedom Party. However, SP top candidate Philip Kucher can still toast a small success: He was able to hold his own against the Freedom Party's Gernot Darmann in the preferential votes - albeit only just.

While the blue candidate won a total of 8087 preferential votes, Kucher was able to persuade 8321 voters to write his name on the ballot paper.

Preferential vote campaign not very successful
VP veteran and top candidate for Carinthia Gabriel Obernosterer achieved less; he received 5262 preferential votes. His party colleague Peter Weidinger, who ran an intensive preferential vote campaign, achieved 4980 preferential votes - 2020 fewer than hoped for.

The judiciary is still dealing with the suspended state parliament director Robert Weiß. It was long suspected that a letter had set the ball rolling in terms of the senior civil servant's work ethic. However, it was an anonymous phone call before Christmas - with the words that "the director of the state parliament is never in office and has been like this for years." While Justitia is trying to shed light on the matter, the state parliament is calling for more speed.

Speaking of parliament: At yesterday's session, numerous demands were made of the future federal government. As reported: primarily infrastructure projects. Hopefully it won't just be demands ...