Behind the established parties KPÖ, FPÖ, Greens and SPÖ, Neos are fighting for re-entry. Eight more, some of them new, groupings are hoping for opportunities, and a total of 14 parties and groups will compete. 223,512 people are entitled to vote, including over 30,000 EU citizens – a little more than in 2017.
The polling stations are already open at 7:00 a.m., and voting takes place when the weather is nice in late summer. 14 parties are competing this time, a maximum number so far. Due to the high proportion of voting cards – around ten percent of those eligible to vote – mandates could be postponed on Monday, the day the voting cards are counted. The choice will be exciting in any case: a city senate seat of the KPÖ is only barely secured, on the other hand, the SPÖ could wave back to the city senate even with a modest gain.
9,387 citizens have already used the early election day on Friday and cast their votes. These are counted on Sunday and included in the pre-election day district 08/80 in the St. Peter district. In addition, 25,430 voting cards (2017: 13,626) were issued, most of which had been requested online.
The polling stations close at 4 p.m. Around 5 p.m. there is a SORA projection. At 5.45 p.m., the top candidates of those parties that are likely to have made it into the municipal council gather for a press conference in the media center of the town hall. A preliminary final result – without the postal voting cards and other voting cards – should be available on Sunday around 7 p.m.
In the last GR election on February 5, 2017, the ÖVP under Nagl took first place with a significant gain of 4.05 percentage points (19 of 48 mandates, 3 city senate seats). The second strongest was the KPÖ under city councilor Elke Kahr with a slight increase of 0.48 percentage points to 20.34 percent (10 mandates, 2 city senate seats). As the third strongest party, the FPÖ achieved 15.86 percent (8 seats) with a plus of 2.11 percentage points. The city senate mandate was taken by party leader Mario Eustacchio as vice mayor. The SPÖ lost 5.26 percentage points to 10.05 percent, flew out of the city senate and from then on held 5 mandates. The Greens (minus 1.63 percentage points to 10.51 percent) got one city council position and five mandates. NEOS managed 3.94 percent from a standstill and a municipal council mandate. The turnout was 57.39 percent.
