Against FPÖ National Councillor

Young ÖVP candidate wins battle for garrison town

Georg Marksteiner "defended" the mayor's seat in Allentsteig against ÖVP National Councillor Alois Kainz.

(Bild: Schindler Klaus)

The ÖVP's leading candidate in Allentsteig came very late to oppose the FPÖ veteran and National Councillor Alois Kainz in the municipal election campaign for the garrison town. Now the future mayor emerges from the election motivated: 730 of the 1146 valid votes went to the ÖVP. And of these, he received 556 preferential votes.

It was only in November that Georg Marksteiner (34) decided to enter the elections as the leading candidate for the ÖVP Allentsteig - and thus enter the ring with FPÖ National Councillor Alois Kainz. He was already in office as deputy mayor for the People's Party from fall 2015 until the municipal council elections and then resigned for a number of personal reasons. 

After a long and unsuccessful search for a successor to Jürgen Koppensteiner, who was still head of the city and had already emphasized ten years ago that he would only be available for two terms, FPÖ top candidate Kainz even announced his claim to the mayor's seat in the garrison city.

Future ÖVP city leader shakes hands
The ÖVP lost 2.4% in the municipal council elections and now has 64.6%. It now holds 13 of the 19 seats in the municipal council. The FPÖ gained 8.4% and now has five seats with 26.5%. In the preferential votes, the future mayor Marksteiner achieved 556 of the 730 ÖVP votes, "which motivated wehr".

The fierce political exchanges between the ÖVP and FPÖ do not count for Marksteiner. He wants to look to the future with a new and, above all, young team: "Apart from a few inappropriate headlines, the election campaign was also quite fair. But it didn't get personal." Marksteiner would also like to work together with the FPÖ in the future to achieve even more for Allentsteig.