While the celebration of the Blues, who lost a third of their votes, turned out to be restrained, the VP did not let the future “Italian conditions” in the Landtag, which Governor Thomas Stelzer had warned in advance, prevent her from celebrating. The mood at the SP was also good.
The VP celebrated happily and exuberantly in the chic city center restaurant “Le Jardin”. Stelzer and federal chairman, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, also appeared in the well-stocked restaurant. Kurz willingly took souvenir photos with the party youth from Upper Austria. There was plenty to eat and drink, and party music played from the loudspeakers.
The FP election ceremony in Linz’s beer pub “Josef”, which was about half full, was cautious. Beer and sausages with pretzels were primarily consumed at tables set in Bavarian blue and white. Conversations at the tables were drowned out by the televised lottery drawing, and party signs lay unnoticed in a box. Some party members also seemed to prefer not to move to the Josef at all, but to drink a beer at the polling station. One of them was top candidate Manfred Haimbuchner.
At the SP, the mood was good despite the lack of election targets. Around 100 SP supporters celebrated the election evening with Birgit Gerstorfer in Linz Central. With Frankfurter und Brtchen they made themselves comfortable in a relaxed atmosphere in the guest garden of the associated restaurant. As in the pre-election events, Angelika Niedetzky led the evening, and regional party leaders, among other things, had their say on the stage.
The Greens spent election Sunday at the Lentos Art Museum in Linz, and there was also a good mood to celebrate the election evening. Music was playing in the large hall, and individuals danced to it. There was a buffet next door for strengthening. In the course of the evening, people slowly started arriving after they had finished counting the election results in the parishes. According to the Greens, the location filled up with a total of around 250 fans, the music got louder and the atmosphere more exuberant.
Shortly after 9 p.m., top candidate Stefan Kaineder arrived with Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler, Minister Leonore Gewessler and club chairwoman Sigrid Maurer. They moved into the hall together with the Green State Executive to raging applause. Kaineder gasped for breath – “there is seldom a speechless Caineder” before he began the words of thanks. Including one to the “most outstanding woman in the world” who was among the followers. There is a “majority for a future government”: “This is the first step, the country will become climate neutral and we will be the reason why that is so.” With the sentence “It was a wonderful election campaign and I am now looking forward to a wonderful beer with you”, Kaineder ended the short speech.
The Neos celebrated first in the Neosphre, around 9 p.m. they moved to their party location “Jack the Ripperl”, where around 50 Neos fans celebrated with Felix Eypeltauer and second in the list, Julia Bammer. Beate Meindl-Reisinger, who had previously congratulated the Upper Austrian team in the Neosphre, had already said goodbye at this point. As in the previous day, Douglas Hoyos and Nikolaus Scherak were also there. As a surprise act, saxophonist Andrew Young played, there were buns, dips and – of course – ribs.
The vaccination skeptics MFG had not booked a restaurant and did not want to celebrate a big party, despite their sensational entry into the state parliament. “We will toast with a beer in private,” said top candidate Joachim Aigner.
Reactions from Niederstreich
The election result for Thomas Stelzer (VP) was “the confirmation of good and successful work for the country and compatriots”, congratulated Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (VP). Lower Austria and Upper Austria are “not just neighbors, we are close partners on many issues. We are not separated by national borders, we are primarily united by a common living space”. The result is the clear mandate to continue on the path taken in Upper Austria, says Mikl-Leitner.
The SP Upper Austria with state party chairwoman Birgit Gerstorfer fought “for justice, for climate protection that does not ignore the social, for modern care that is affordable and much more”, summed up Wolfgang Kocevar, state manager of the SP Lower Austria. “Even if the result does not correspond to what the team had hoped for”, there is the firm belief that the Upper Austrians will also in future know “where their first point of contact is for all these important, decisive issues”.
The Lower Austrian state spokeswoman Helga Krismer responded that the gain of the Greens in the neighboring state is “a strong mandate for climate protection and can be seen as a voice in the fight against the climate crisis.” She spoke of an announcement by the voters to “continue our work for a clean environment and clean politics as well as courageous climate protection”.
Felix Eypeltauer and his team had an incredibly committed election campaign, emphasized Indra Collini, state spokeswoman for NEOS in Lower Austria. With the move into the seventh state parliament, “another important growth step” has been achieved.
Press vote
“The established parties had no reason to celebrate on the evening of the election in Upper Austria. Although the VP increased slightly in the state elections, it clearly fell short of its expectations. In the last election in 2015, which was at the height of the refugee crisis and at its lowest point the reputation of the red-black federal coalition at that time, lost ten percentage points. The fact that, despite the massive change in the starting position, it has now failed to achieve its stated goal of having a foursome again should give the party strategists pause for thought. And not just in Linz , but also in Vienna, because obviously the Sebastian Kurz effect, which has given the VP excellent election results since 2017, did not work in Upper Austria. At least not in a positive way, “said the Salzburger Nachrichten on the election.
