Officially decided

Vienna clears the way for elections on April 27

Mayor Michael Ludwig at the meeting of the Vienna City Council

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

On Tuesday, the Vienna City Council cleared the way for the Vienna elections to be brought forward by a joint motion of all parties. The ballot will take place on April 27.

The red-pink coalition announced at the end of last week that it did not want to wait until the regular date in the fall. They said they wanted to spare people a long election campaign. This has now been formally sealed.

Parties reached an agreement after all
On Tuesday morning, it had initially looked as though no unanimity could be reached. This was because the original SPÖ-NEOS motion had included possible negative effects of a possible blue-black coalition in the federal government. The ÖVP and FPÖ then threatened to reject it. In the end, agreement was reached on a simple all-party motion.

Municipal council dissolved prematurely
It was decided to dissolve the municipal council before the end of the election period - although the dissolution will not take effect immediately, as the regular meetings of the municipal council and provincial parliament are to take place as planned until the election. And that's not all: the coalition has indicated that special sessions could also be scheduled to decide on outstanding projects.

A decision will be made in Vienna on April 27 regarding the composition of a new state parliament or municipal council. The district councils will also be voted on. The SPÖ under party leader and mayor Michael Ludwig has now been governing with the NEOS for more than four years. Their leader Christoph Wiederkehr is Deputy Mayor and City Councillor for Education, Integration and Youth.