Parties in check

One week before the election: The new political barometer

The Styrian party leaders Niko Swatek (NEOS), Mario Kunasek (FPÖ), Sandra Krautwaschl (Greens), Claudia Klimt-Weithaler (KPÖ), Manuela Khom (ÖVP) and Max Lercher (SPÖ).

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz)

One week before the local council elections, the "Krone" editorial team once again took a close look at the Styrian parties. Who is rising, who is falling? The FPÖ is no longer flying as high as last year, the ÖVP has stabilized - and the opposition still has to find its role. 

FPÖ: No connection to Vienna
For about a month, things looked good with a blue "People's Chancellor". However, FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl failed in the final stages and returned the task of forming a government to the Federal President. For Styria, a blue-black coalition at federal level would have had many advantages: the liberal state governor Mario Kunasek would have had a direct line to the chancellor's office, especially when it came to hot topics such as the expansion of the A9 motorway or the construction of a national stadium in or near Graz. As it is, however, the head of the province lacks a contact person in Vienna and has to make do with sending a list of demands over the Semmering.