Yesterday evening, after the debate at the OÖNachrichten, the second round of discussion of the top candidates for the state election was on the program – this time in the ORF regional studio in Linz.
In the most recent polls before the election, the starting position is relatively stable. A current survey comes from the research institute M&R on behalf of the state ÖVP and sees the ÖVP at 38 percent, followed by the FPÖ at 22 and the SPÖ at 18 percent (with a fluctuation range of plus / minus 4.4 percent).
The Greens reach twelve percent, the Neos would make the leap into the state parliament with five percent – just like the anti-vaccination movement MFG, which is four to five percent in this survey.
A scenario that motivates VP regional managing director Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer to warn of “Italian conditions” in the Upper Austrian state parliament and to advertise a “clear management mandate” for VP regional governor Thomas Stelzer.
In terms of content, the corona pandemic has clearly become the dominant topic in the final spurt of the election campaign: 114 respondents in the M&R survey (sample of 500 people) named “managing the corona crisis” as one of the most important tasks. This was followed by the topics of jobs (92 mentions) and climate protection (85 mentions). The topic of immigration policy – which was the overriding question in the 2015 election campaign – now has 70 mentions.
This is followed by the subject of “basic rights / no compulsory vaccination or testing” (48 mentions), which at least ranks above the major political questions of health care, education and care.
The fact that the Corona issue is undisputedly shaping the last days of the election campaign is not only evident from the growing tone between ÖVP and FPÖ (see page 3), but also from the criticism of the country’s Corona crisis management. Yesterday, SPÖ club boss Michael Lindner shot himself at Governor Stelzer: He shifted responsibility to the federal government and stuck his head in the sand, “because the favor of the FPÖ coronavirus is more important to him than fighting the pandemic in the country”. In addition, in the event of a crisis, as is currently the case in the Braunau district, he sends his officials in front of him instead of taking responsibility himself. “You just have to imagine how well Upper Austria would be with a governor at the helm who does not go on a dive station every time there is a crisis,” criticized Lindner. (wb)
