Exactly 100,564 residents of the Tyrolean state capital Innsbruck who were eligible to vote were called upon on Sunday to redistribute the balance of power in the 40-member local council and to vote for the mayor (current incumbent Georg Willi; Greens) via direct election. A total of 13 lists competed for voters’ favor.
In the race for the mayoral runoff election, even before the vote count was completed, a three-way fight was emerging between Willi, the FP candidate and deputy mayor Markus Lassenberger and Johannes Anzengruber (list JA – Now Innsbruck). In the end it was clear that the duel in two weeks would be Willi against Anzengruber. The latter clearly prevailed against Florian Tursky in the showdown in the black camp.
OÖNplus article on the Innsbruck election
The former State Secretary for Digitalization left the turquoise-green federal government a few weeks ago with the aim of uniting the Innsbruck ÖVP and becoming mayor. In the end, Tursky only ended up in fifth place in the direct mayoral election with 10.4 percent.
Willi, the first Green leader of a state capital in six years, is going into the runoff election first with 22.9 percent. His opponent Anzengruber ended up clearly in second place with 19.4 percent, ahead of Lassenberger (15.9 percent) and SP candidate Elisabeth Mayr (15.2 percent).
- Video: Willi and Anzengruber in runoff election
Surprise Willie
Observers considered it anything but certain that Willi would initially cross the finish line as number one at the head of a city politics that had been at odds for years. But the much-anticipated green-blue duel for the mayor’s office will now not happen either. Nevertheless, Willis’s strong polarization with the FPÖ may have worked in the first round.
In the local council election, the Greens, who were clearly ahead in 2018, had to accept a loss of 5.3 points, but with 18.9 percent they remain the strongest force in the local council.
Here too, Anzengruber’s own list, which was only recently founded, was able to unite most of the sympathizers from the black camp behind it. With 16.9 percent, it came in second, ahead of the FPÖ (15.2 percent). Tursky, who ran in the electoral alliance “The New Innsbruck” with the Seniors’ Association, ended up with 10.2 percent, behind the SPÖ, which was able to gain 13.5 percent compared to 2018.
KPÖ stronger than expected
As in Salzburg a few weeks ago, albeit on a much more modest scale, the KPÖ delivered a surprise. With 6.7 percent, she clearly exceeded the newly introduced 4 percent hurdle for entry into the local council. The Fritz list also landed in the city parliament with 5.5 percent. The “ALI” list is also close at 4.8 percent. All other of the 13 lists that entered, such as NEOS, did not make it. At 60.5 percent, voter turnout this time was significantly higher than in 2018 (50.5 percent).
- You can read the latest news about the election in Innsbruck in our Live blog:
Author
Lucian Mayringer
Internal politics editor
Lucian Mayringer
