No more absolutes

Red decline in the granite town of Schrems

SPÖ town leader Peter Müller in Schrems came second.(Bild: Klaus Schindler)

The SPÖ has to say goodbye to the absolute in Schrems - the ÖVP is now the party with the most votes there. In Bad Großpertholz, however, there was a success for the Reds.

There was unrest in the ÖVP-dominated district of Gmünd due to the FPÖ's high level of support in the federal government. Yet it was the SPÖ that was to deliver the most significant outliers on election day. In the district town, ÖVP mayor Helga Rosenmayer lost 9.4% of the vote, but retained 15 of the 29 seats on the local council and thus an absolute majority.

In contrast, history was made in the granite town of Schrems, which had been dominated by the Socialists since long before the war: The ÖVP is now the party with the most votes there. Due to the equal number of seats and the loss of the red coalition partner, it will be exciting to see who will be the head of the town in future. There are also thrills in "neighboring" Amaliendorf, where there could now be a blue mayor for the first time after losing the absolute majority with the help of the ÖVP.

A political force of nature
And there, where the FPÖ and SPÖ shared the seat of the head of the town half-time, a political force of nature occurred: while the SPÖ more than doubled, the ÖVP more than halved.