Until 4 p.m. there was tense expectation in the Gleinerhaus, the VP state headquarters: journalists and camera teams were waiting in the conference room on the second floor, but before the first extrapolation, the party ranks were behind closed bars. Little by little, individual members of the government arrived shortly before 4 p.m. – LH-Deputy. Christine Haberlander, Provincial Councilor Max Hiegelsberger – and finally, to thunderous applause from the numerous election workers present, Governor Thomas Stelzer, flanked by his wife Bettina and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The first extrapolation was imported: 37.7 percent for the VP and thus a small plus of 1.3 percentage points, she predicted. Neither Stelzer nor Kurz commented on it; after the applause from the election officials, they left the room smiling again.
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The VP state manager Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer was responsible for an initial statement. He saw, although a result of less than 40 percent was foreseeable for the VP at that time, the most important election goals had been achieved: the VP had once again become the strongest party “by a considerable margin” from the second, and the result was a clear government mandate to Governor Stelzer. And this under the “special circumstances” of this election – an explanation that one should hear more often from the ranks of the VP on this day. The party landscape in Upper Austria is “in upheaval,” said Hattmannsdorfer, especially with regard to the performance of the MFG.
- ON-TV: Interview with Thomas Stelzer
Governor Stelzer himself later read a “clear management mandate” from the result, stating that the VP was about as strong as the two next-ranked competitors, FP and SP together. Stelzer did not want to comment on a future coalition, there will be talks with all parties this week.
That the MFG moved into the state parliament so smoothly surprised many in the People’s Party – including former governor Josef Phringer. He had this party on the bill, he said in an interview with the ON, “but not to this extent”.
