2024-03-25 17:41:05
Not just since the Salzburg election, the KPÖ has been trying to put massive pressure on the SPÖ with its main issue of “housing”. So far this has (almost) not been successful.
In the end it was clear: Bernhard Auinger (SPÖ) won with 62.5 percent against Kay-Michael Dankl (KPÖ plus), who made it into the runoff election for the Salzburg mayor’s post with the issue of “affordable housing”. The fact that the ÖVP and FPÖ made an (indirect) election recommendation for him may have contributed to Auinger’s clear victory. For example, the FPÖ had made it clear that a communist as mayor of Salzburg was an absolute no-go for them, the worst choice – regardless of who else was running.
For Andreas Babler, who hasn’t exactly had a run for his money since taking over as SPÖ federal party leader, Salzburg brings a much-needed reprieve from the red turmoil. He reinterpreted the local election as a “tailwind for the National Council election in September,” which corresponds to a very creative perspective.
Impact on NR election
The fact is: In Salzburg, the issue of “affordable housing” played a crucial role – as in other Austrian cities and urban areas. And Salzburg signals: The SPÖ has become an unpleasant competitor in one of its central core areas with the KPÖ, whose main issue is housing. This raises the question: “Who can live (better)?” The answer to this question will have an impact on the upcoming National Council election and (especially) on the Vienna election next year.
A popular view: Auinger’s confident victory cannot hide the fact that the KPÖ will significantly damage the SPÖ on the central issue of “affordable housing”. After all, the KPÖ in Graz managed to overthrow the then Styrian ÖVP hope, the mayor of Graz, Siegfried Nagl, with the housing issue. Since then, Graz has been ruled by communists. The once proud SPÖ (which provided Alfred Stingl as mayor of Graz until 2003) has run into decline.
Good sounding headlines
The truth: The success of the KPÖ across Austria depends on whether it enters the race with personalities like Dankl or the mayor of Graz, Elke Kahr. At the moment, apart from Dankl and Kahr, no such personalities can be seen. In addition, the success of the KPÖ depends heavily on the weakness of the SPÖ. In Graz, the former mayoral party SPÖ fought its way (almost) into insignificance due to internal conflicts, which made the rise of the communists possible in the first place.
In addition: When it comes to the topic of “housing”, the KPÖ provides good-sounding headlines. As a small opposition party, however, it does not have to worry about whether its demands are feasible or completely utopian.
Government participation in Graz
In Graz, where the KPÖ has been in government since September 2021 (with the Greens and SPÖ), its performance can be described as coming to an end. Not just because of massive financial problems, which have recently been stabilized. In the housing sector, the communists are celebrating the fact that they have put the construction of 70 new community apartments on track since 2021 as a great success. To put it into perspective: Graz has around 180,000 apartments for around 300,000 residents.
While the KPÖ’s successes on the issue of “affordable housing” are manageable, Babler likes to counter the communists with the housing model of “Red Vienna”: In the federal capital, almost 500,000 Viennese live in one of the 220,000 municipal apartments – almost every fourth apartment in Vienna is one Municipal housing. Here the political attack surface for the KPÖ is particularly limited (compared to other parts of Austria).
KPÖ against red Vienna
This brings us to the election in the most important red federal state, which will take place next year. In Vienna, the SPÖ traditionally leaves little space to its left – especially in the living area. Since around two thirds of the population live in municipal or subsidized cooperative apartments, which have significantly lower rental costs than apartments on the open market, Michael Ludwig’s party is difficult to attack on the issue of “affordable housing”. For example, a total of 5,500 “new community buildings” (the official name) should be on track by 2025 (in addition to the regular housing program) – which is urgently needed as Vienna has been growing significantly for years. To achieve this, Vienna invests its entire housing subsidy in residential construction, which was a unique selling point for many years.
The consequence of the Vienna SPÖ’s housing policy was that the KPÖ was kept in check in state elections. In 2015 it was only 1.12 percent. After that, the communists only appeared as part of the “Left” list, which reached around two percent in 2020.
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