It remains to be seen whether one or the other state election will also bring a change in personnel. The three governing provincial governors Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) in Lower Austria on January 29, Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) in Carinthia on March 5 and Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP) in Salzburg on April 23 are standing for election.
Of course, it gets exciting right at the start of the election year in St. Pölten: Then it becomes apparent how recent domestic and media policy developments are having an impact. Corruption allegations against former and current ÖVP politicians, the federal party itself and the ÖVP corruption investigation committee in Vienna could have an impact. In addition, the public prosecutor’s office in Vienna recently began investigating breaches of trust in connection with advertisements placed in Lower Austrian media. According to media reports, the reason for this was an anonymous advertisement alleging that large Lower Austrian companies had placed advertisements at inflated prices. The ÖVP rejects the allegations, the presumption of innocence applies.
ÖVP NÖ at about 40 percent
Another point of contention in the election campaign was the reporting by ORF Lower Austria, whose former editor-in-chief and current state director Robert Ziegler is accused of influencing in favor of the ÖVP – more on this in noe.ORF.at.
In the election, Mikl-Leitner is threatened with losing the absolute majority of mandates in the proportional government, which was still just 49.63 percent in 2018. The big question that worries political strategists is whether the ÖVP will get over 40 percent. Most recently, a survey for the “Lower Austrian News” (“NÖN”) had forecast 41 percent for the ÖVP.
FPÖ is catching up in Carinthia
In Carinthia, the red-black coalition is under scrutiny. It will be exciting to see whether Governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) can maintain his strong result of 47.9 percent in 2018 – although gains by the FPÖ can be expected. This dominated Carinthia for many years under Jörg Haider, had fallen sharply in 2013 and increased somewhat in 2018.
The Carinthian election at the federal level is also interesting because that is where it will be decided who will chair the Bundesrat in the second half of the year, presumably a member of the Social Democrats. But which one is unclear, since the previous mandataries from the federal state are no longer applying.
In the second half of the new year, Governor Kaiser will also be at the head of the Governors’ Conference according to the principle of rotation. The governor of Burgenland, Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ), will take over the first six months.
Policy Advisor about the year 2022
Political advisor Thomas Hofer looks back on the year 2022, in which a lot has changed. Among other things, he talks about the loss of confidence in politics, about the first year of Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and about the challenges that the SPÖ will face.
Swearing in the “new” Parliament
The currently only three-party coalition at state level (ÖVP, Greens and NEOS) is standing for election in Salzburg for the first time. Governor Haslauer (ÖVP) must not hope to repeat the great election victory of 2018. At that time, he achieved by far the largest ÖVP gain of the year with a plus of 8.8 percent. After the disastrous financial scandal election in 2013, the People’s Party defended its regained first place with 37.8 percent. At least one thing is already certain: Salzburg’s finance and health officer, deputy governor Christian Stöckl (ÖVP), is going into political retirement.
Aside from the state parliaments, there is also a lot going on politically and personally. After his victory in the federal presidential election in January, Van der Bellen was officially sworn in as head of state again – in the renovated parliament building on Vienna’s Ring, which was occupied again at the beginning of the year.
Staff carousel at universities
The elections of the Austrian Students’ Union (ÖH) take place in May, and the heads of many rectorates are changing. Rupert Sausgruber is to take over as rector at the business university. Jens Schneider will come to the Vienna University of Technology, Horst Bischof to the Graz University of Technology, and the Montanuni in Leoben will also have a new boss in October 2023 in Peter Moser. Innsbruck gets a rector in Veronika Sexl. The University of Linz and the University of Applied Arts are only choosing their new directors.
There are also innovations in the trade union – Rainer Wimmer is retiring, vacating two positions at the same time. Reinhold Binder will assume the position of head of the production union, while Josef Muchitsch, chief of construction and timber, will assume the powerful position of chairman of the Social Democratic trade unionists. There is no change at the top. ÖGB President Wolfgang Katzian will again stand as a candidate at the federal congress in the middle of the year.
Optional autumn – probably
It cannot be ruled out that the polls in Innsbruck will be brought forward, where Mayor Georg Willi (Greens) could face new competition. His city party recently split after Willi wanted to rebuild the magistrate – he has since withdrawn the plans. Three municipal councils left, they founded their own list and accused Willi of blindly “maintaining power” and a lack of transparency – more on this in tirol.ORF.at.
Fall, if there are no advances, is optional. The next National Council election is not scheduled for autumn 2024.
