Municipal elections in Lower Austria

The (political) cards are being reshuffled today

How the election will turn out is written in the stars. The overall result is of little significance - it is a matter of 568 individual cases, so to speak.

(Bild: @crisblazmar/stock.adobe.com)

More than 1.3 million Lower Austrians can fulfill their civic duty on Sunday and determine the composition of their local council. The "Krone" will of course accompany you live through election day. And will be looking into the questions in advance: Why a comparison with the last election is a limp one - and when mayors are actually elected.

In terms of the overall result, the ÖVP holds an absolute majority in Lower Austria's municipalities. Of course, this is not the case everywhere on the ground - so in local elections it is difficult to give anything like an overall result. Strictly speaking, there are 568 individual elections. Drawing comparisons with the 2020 result is difficult for several reasons.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Stock Adobe)

Not all municipalities vote on Sunday
Firstly, in addition to the statutory towns of St. Pölten, Krems and Waidhofen an der Ybbs, the municipalities of Vösendorf and Pernersdorf are not voting because the new composition of the local parliament was not voted on until 2024 and therefore within the transition period.

More than 30,000 mostly volunteer electoral assistants guarantee a smooth process. Ex officio on duty are the heads of IT project management Martin Riederer (right) and Josef Schnürer, head of application development at the Office of the Lower Austrian Provincial Government. With a meticulous eye, they ensure that the results from the municipalities are available quickly and clearly for all politically interested citizens - and of course the "Krone".

(Bild: Molnar Attila/Attila Molnar)

And secondly, the electoral law reform means that secondary residents are no longer included - so "only" 1,314,645 Lower Austrians are now eligible to vote. That is a drop of just under 11 percent. The comparison will also lag considerably in terms of mandates. As reported, the number of posts to be allocated in the municipal councils will increase significantly to 11,873. The reason for this is the general increase in the population.

Neither advertising nor weapons allowed

Lower Austrian polling stations will become a no-go zone: all forms of election advertising are prohibited within a radius of 100 meters. But that's not all: carrying weapons within this zone will also be severely punished.

Manche gewinnt man, manche verliert man

Was sich die Parteien erwarten

So what do the parties expect? For the first time, the People's Party is not running in all municipalities, but will be happy to claim the "outlier" of Zillingdorf in the district of Wiener Neustadt - where black municipal councillors are running with a citizens' list this time - for themselves after the election. It is undisputed that they will lose municipalities this year. "We have a few places in every election where the majorities turn," a party spokesperson told the "Krone" newspaper.

Will the FPÖ win the next election?
Conversely, this means that the "mayors' party" - as the ÖVP likes to call itself - will also win a few municipalities again. Incidentally, they usually alternate with the SPÖ, which is running in 538 municipalities this year. The FPÖ wants to score points in 444 municipalities - and for the first time has a serious chance of winning one or two seats in the state.

So will the Freedom Party be able to celebrate the first blue mayor? That is unlikely - because to say that with certainty, they would have to win an absolute majority. As we all know, only the local councillors are elected, who in turn elect the heads of towns and villages.

Why individual seats in the municipalities could remain vacant

Depending on the number of inhabitants, 13 to 41 members sit on a Lower Austrian municipal council. However, if a party or list receives more seats as a result of the votes cast than the number of candidates previously registered, seats could remain vacant. According to the blue-yellow election law, there is no provision for late registrations. The only consequence: voting rights simply expire, but in the municipal council - similar to the quorum requirement - two thirds of all seats must be filled in order to work.

But the mandataries still have plenty of time to do this. Provided there are no objections to the final result, the constituent meetings will take place on February 11 at the earliest, but no later than March 11. And in a handful of municipalities between Enns and Leitha, it is already clear before the election that a re-run will be insisted on.