Vienna election

Parties finalize their lists next week

Vienna's mayor Ludwig

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

In Vienna, everything will revolve around the election proposals next week: The parties are finalizing their lists for the early municipal and district council elections on 27 April. Originally planned for the fall, the date was brought forward by the SPÖ and NEOS due to the domestic political situation. The SPÖ will kick off its candidate presentation on Monday.

The various SPÖ committees will meet in the morning. The lists will be presented to the public in the afternoon. Specifically, the red candidates will be presented at 1.30 p.m. by state party secretary Barbara Novak and party leader and mayor Michael Ludwig. A media event was scheduled for the premises of the Rathausklub.

Major events at the weekend
This will probably also be about the party talks at federal level. Now that FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl has resigned from forming the government, the SPÖ is back in the game. Ludwig has already announced that he wants to be more involved in the new round of talks.

On Friday (February 21), the ÖVP will forge the list of candidates at a meeting of the party presidium or executive committee. According to the Vienna ÖVP, the presentation of the turquoise squad is planned for the following Monday, i.e. February 24. Two major events will then take place on Saturday (February 22): Both the Greens and NEOS will select their candidates at a state and general assembly respectively.

The FPÖ could also do this next week, although no date has yet been announced. However, they are already one step ahead: the Blue Party has already decided on its top candidate. Party leader Dominik Nepp was nominated at a meeting of the party executive at the beginning of January.

Greens have made a preliminary decision
The surprises in the other parties are also likely to be limited. The state lists of the SPÖ and NEOS will probably be headed by their party leaders Michael Ludwig and Christoph Wiederkehr. A preliminary decision was necessary for the Greens, as they have a dual leadership in Judith Pühringer and Peter Kraus. It was jointly decided to let Pühringer take the lead. However, the election itself will not take place until the provincial assembly.

In the ÖVP, the Wienwert case overshadows the committee meetings, as an indictment for breach of trust against party leader Karl Mahrer is said to be imminent. The case concerns payments made by the real estate developer to a company owned by Mahrer's wife. The Vienna VP leader denies all allegations.

The starting position for the parties is quite unusual, because The 2020 municipal elections produced almost only winners. The SPÖ achieved 41.6 percent (up 2 percentage points). The Greens, who were still coalition partners of the SPÖ at the time, were not harmed by being in government. They gained around 3 percentage points to 14.8%. The ÖVP climbed by 11 percentage points to 20.4 percent.

The NEOS achieved 7.5 percent, an increase of 1.3 percentage points. The FPÖ, on the other hand, suffered a dramatic fall. The blue party lost 23.7 percentage points after the Ibiza debacle. They ended up in last place with 7 percent.

Vienna votes on April 27, 2025

(Bild: Patrick Huber)

The first pollshave already beenpublished
Forecasts for the upcoming election have already been published, although they vary considerably - which is hardly surprising given the volatile political situation in Austria. The most recently published data shows values around the 40 percent mark for the SPÖ. The FPÖ is mostly just over 20 percent. Significant losses are predicted for the ÖVP, however.

Both losses and gains have already been forecast for the Greens. The NEOS appear to be reasonably stable. A renewed cooperation with the SPÖ appears to be mathematically within reach.

What is relatively unique, however, is the fact that a party that a few months ago was still expected to enter the municipal council is no longer even aiming to do so: The Beer Party announced at the beginning of February that it would no longer be standing in elections.