Mayor stays

Two motions of no confidence bounced off the municipal council

Two motions of no confidence, two times no two-thirds majority: Pressbaum's mayor Josef Schmidl-Haberleitner remains in office.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Gemeinde Pressbaum; zVg)

Two opposition parties voted no confidence in Josef Schmldl-Haberleitner in the municipal council. Although the absolute majority was against the mayor in both votes, the two-thirds majority was not achieved. The mayor remains in office - but only until the municipal elections, in which he will not be standing again.

And once again, two attempts by the opposition went wrong, once again at the center of criticism: PKomm, Pressbaumer Kommunal GmbH, in which the administration of many areas of the municipality - from the outdoor pool to schools to the town hall - are outsourced. "As early as April, we criticized the fact that the disastrous findings of an auditing firm, that annual six-figure subsidies from the municipality are necessary, are not published," raged Wolfgang Kalchhauser from the "Wir!" list and accused Mayor Josef Schmidl-Haberleitner of "cover-up attempts" in a motion of censure.

In addition to the Citizens' List, the SPÖ also wanted an "exit"
However, Alfred Gruber from the SPÖ also failed with another motion of no confidence. The opposition calculated that the result was still clearly against the mayor with a majority of 15:13 and 15:14 (the ÖVP has 11 mandataries). "As mayor, I would consider what such a result means," says Gruber.

The SPÖ man is also calling for the meetings to be recorded plus an electronic voting system: "It is often not counted exactly how many of the 33 mandataries have raised their hands during votes. More control is needed!" The head of the city could not be reached for comment.