Local council election in St. Pölten 2016
The 2016 municipal council election took place on April 17, 2016 and was the 15th regular municipal council election in St. Pölten after the end of the war . The 45,545 eligible voters could choose from seven parties and lists, the SPÖ under Matthias Stadler was able to expand the absolute majority.
Starting position
In addition to the four parties represented in the local council, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), The Greens - The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) and Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), three further lists ran for the municipal council elections on July 3, 2011 . These were the Citizens List For St. Pölten (FSP), the Independent Citizens' Platform We for St. Pölten (WIR) and the Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ).
Despite losses, the SPÖ was able to hold an absolute majority in the election . While the ÖVP won slightly, the FPÖ was able to gain significantly. The Greens had to accept heavy losses, the other three lists and parties failed because they were allowed to join the local council. At the constituent municipal council meeting on August 1, 2011, Matthias Stadler was re-elected mayor , while Susanne Kysela (SPÖ) and Matthias Adl (ÖVP) were deputy mayors. Eight members of the SPÖ, four of the ÖVP and one of the FPÖ were elected to the city senate.
At the end of February 2012, Kysela resigned from all political offices, followed by Franz Gunacker as the first deputy mayor.
Election process
Election date
In mid-January, Mayor Stadler announced by means of a press release and a YouTube video that the election would take place on April 17th, and the unanimous resolution of the municipal council to set the date took place on January 18th. Since the 2011 election date fell in July, this election date was perceived as very early, which was argued with a shorter and therefore cheaper election campaign.
Due to the election date one week before the 2016 federal presidential election , a merger was publicly discussed, but this was not possible due to legal provisions ( Section 26 of the Federal Presidential Election Act 1971).
Campaigning parties
In addition to the four parties represented in the local council, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and The Greens - The Green Alternative (GRÜNE), three other lists competed for the municipal council elections . These were NEOS - Das Neue Österreich (NEOS), the non-partisan citizens' list of St. Pölten (BLÜH) and dieKühnen.jetzt (now).
The FSP and the WIR list no longer stood for election. The Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ) and the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) did not run for election despite plans to do so.
Mayor Matthias Stadler - SPÖ (SPÖ)
As in the last two elections, the list of Mayor Matthias Stadler - SPÖ (SPÖ) ran under Matthias Stadler and primarily relied on the mayor's official bonus . The election campaign also focused on Stadler; in addition to the SPÖ's city website, a separate homepage matthiasstadler.at or matthias-stadler.at and a Facebook group Matthias Stadler were set up. The name of the list was tailored to the mayor, and there was no reference to the SPÖ on the election posters. At the end of February, Stadler was elected the top candidate of the SPÖ with 97.4% of the votes of the MPs. His goal was to achieve an absolute majority and an increase in votes.
The list of candidates for the SPÖ consisted of 84 people, 56 percent of whom were women. The first 12 list positions were divided alternately between male and female candidates. The originally presented candidate and Jakob Prandtauer Prize winner Mimi Wunderer soon announced her withdrawal for health reasons.
At the end of March, the SPÖ announced the key issues of the election campaign, Stadler wanted to concentrate on the issues of "security, work, education, life, social affairs and traffic". In addition to the planned guard room at the train station, Stadler demanded at least 20 additional police officers for St. Pölten, and talks are being held about a police school on Europaplatz. On the subject of transport, Stadler spoke out in favor of dedicating the mineral oil tax , which is intended to finance an annual ticket in the Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region for EUR 186, and the current tender for the LUP also includes the test extension with three lines on Sundays and public holidays.
At the end of March, Stadler and René Pfister presented the requirement for a rapid transit concept for the central Lower Austria area with the St. Pölten hub.
People's Party St. Pölten - List Matthias Adl (VP)
The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) ran with Matthias Adl as the top candidate. The mandates achieved are awarded according to the number of preferential votes , exceptions to the top candidate are two Madatars selected by the city party executive. The 84 candidates were ranked alphabetically on the ballot, 32% of the candidates were women. The party's minimum goal was to maintain or improve the 2011 election results. The election campaign focused heavily on the person Matthias Adl, for example the homepage of the ÖVP St. Pölten matthias-adl.at , as well as a Facebook group in his name. The ÖVP stated that it wanted to start its election campaign on March 30th. The first wave of posters was launched at the beginning of March.
The ÖVP election campaign ran under the title “St. Pölten - there is more ”, the main topics were the preservation of parking areas on Domplatz, a 200-euro annual ticket for the LUP city bus and the preservation of green spaces, above all the Sonnenpark. The economic association presented its demands in March. In addition to a “multifunctional cathedral square with parking lots, weekly market and enough space for ecclesiastical and secular events”, simplifications for company settlements and an economic and research park, tourism is a key issue. The VP wanted a modern event and congress center and wanted to polish up the “suboptimal image” of St. Pölten.
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ)
The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) ran under the top candidate Klaus Otzelberger. The top candidate from 2011, Hermann Nonner, announced in March instead of running for the FPÖ for the BLÜH list as second. Peter Sommerauer, listed in second place in 2011, was on the nomination for the election, but at his own request he was 36th and therefore last. The FPÖ gave the “historically best result” as the election target, above the 1997 local council election of 12.7 percent.
The central election topic of the FPÖ was the refugee crisis and its consequences, so the slogan was “Our values, our rules. We determine St. Pöltner ”. The FPÖ also stood for parking spaces on Domplatz, wanted an ice rink on Rathausplatz and lower salaries for city politicians. At the start of the election campaign in March 2016, Otzelberger asked Stadler to resign immediately, and at the beginning of April Otzelberger sought a red-blue coalition. Shortly before the election, Otzelberger received a death threat from a stranger.
The Greens (Greens)
The list Die Grünen (Greens) appeared for the first time under Nicole Buschenreiter, the election target was a third mandate from the council. The party insisted on not campaigning, but on electoral engagement .
In terms of content, the Greens called for a parking space-free cathedral square, more transparency in the city's finances and a construction freeze for all projects connected with the Traisental Schnellstraße (S34). The young Greens presented their program at the end of March, the main topics being the expansion of public transport, the preservation of the sun park and the redesign of the town hall square .
NEOS - The New Austria (NEOS)
The NEOS - The New Austria (NEOS) occurred among leading candidate to grave Wolfgang Steiner. In addition to Grabensteiner, there were four other people on the list of candidates who were determined in a three-stage process.
As early as 2015, NEOS - Das Neue Österreich (NEOS) stated as a declared goal to enter the local council and to break the absolute SPÖ majority as a goal. Further topics were the design of the Domplatz (“market place instead of parking lot”) as well as a prohibition of speculation on taxpayers' money, which is enshrined in the city constitution. In addition, the NEOS criticized the existence of eleven non-executive city councilors. The party published further topics in a 9½ point municipal council election program entitled Our plan for St. Pölten 2016 on the party website.
Citizens' list non-partisan St. Pölten (BLÜH)
The BLÜH list ran under the top candidate Mario Wailzer, with a further eight candidates standing for election. Of the candidates, Wailzer was the youngest at 25, and his grandfather was the oldest at 79. After Hermann Nonner was expecting "80 percent" of not appearing in January, he announced in March instead of running for the FPÖ for the BLÜH list as second.
The list, like the Herzogenburg partner list of the same name, named an entry into the municipal council as a goal . The topics of the election campaign were a Sunday operation of the LUP city bus as well as cheaper annual tickets for it and more dog exercise areas with drinking fountains.
the bold. now (now)
The list dieKühnen.jetzt (now) consists essentially of former members of the St. Pölten Greens and announced their arrival at the end of February. The list under top candidate Walter Heimerl described himself as "the political start-up for bold citizens", the core topic was a citizens' council, in which every citizen can contribute.
Survey and Analysis
Almost two months before the election, the NÖN published a first survey of Public Opinion Strategies . At this point in time, the SPÖ and ÖVP respondents gave similar approval ratings within the range of fluctuation as in the 2011 election, the FPÖ received higher ratings while the Greens received lower survey ratings. According to this survey, the NEOS would not move into the local council. In the same survey, people were asked about the, hypothetical, direct election of mayor. 63% of those surveyed said they would vote for Stadler, 10% Adl and 4% Otzelberger.
| survey | SPÖ | ÖVP | FPÖ | Green | NEOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 municipal council election | 57% | 25% | 11% | 5% | - |
| Public Opinion Strategies / NÖN , February 16, 2016 | 55% (± 4%) | 23% (± 4%) | 16% (± 3%) | 4% (± 2%) | 1% (± 1%) |
Shortly before the election, Peter Filzmaier analyzed the election for the courier . Filzmaier sees the receipt of the SPÖ majority as likely. The ÖVP's problem is the lack of "political heavyweights". The FPÖ's election target of a historically best result was set very low, as the almost 13% from 1997 would be “possible or likely in every city”. Filzmaier said to the Greens that little was heard from the top candidate in the election campaign and that the party was fragmented.
Election result
In the election on April 17, 2016, the SPÖ won an absolute majority . While the ÖVP lost a lot, the FPÖ was able to gain significantly. The Greens had to accept heavy losses, the other three lists and parties failed because they were allowed to join the local council. Matthias Stadler (SPÖ) received the most preferential votes with 3,703, followed by Ali Firat (SPÖ) with 923 votes and Klaus Otzelberger (FPÖ) with 687 votes. Matthias Adl (ÖVP) received 471 preferential votes, Nicole Buschenreiter (Greens) 30.
| Results 2016 | Results 2011 | Differences | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| be right | % | Mand. | be right | % | Mand. | be right | % | Mand. | |
| Eligible voters | 45,545 | 44.501 | +1,044 | ||||||
| Votes cast | 28,974 | 63.6% | 25,816 | 58.0% | + 3,158 | + 5.6% | |||
| invalid votes | 365 | 1.3% | 523 | 2.0% | - 158 | - 0.7% | |||
| valid votes | 28,609 | 98.7% | 25,293 | 98.0% | + 3,316 | + 0.7% | |||
| Political party | |||||||||
| SPÖ | 16,880 | 59.0% | 26th | 14,357 | 56.8% | 25th | + 2,523 | + 2.2% | + 1 |
| ÖVP | 5,798 | 20.3% | 9 | 6,396 | 25.3% | 11 | - 598 | - 5.0% | - 2nd |
| FPÖ | 4,205 | 14.7% | 6th | 2,708 | 10.7% | 4th | + 1,496 | + 4.0% | + 2 |
| Green | 785 | 2.7% | 1 | 1,235 | 4.9% | 2 | - 450 | - 2.2% | - 1 |
| NEOS | 448 | 1.6% | 0 | not running | |||||
| BLOOM | 137 | 0.5% | 0 | not running | |||||
| now | 356 | 1.2% | 0 | not running | |||||
| CPÖ | not running | 123 | 0.5% | 0 | not running | ||||
| WE | not running | 299 | 1.2% | 0 | not running | ||||
| FSP | not running | 175 | 0.7% | 0 | not running | ||||
| total | 28,609 | 100.0% | 42 | 25,293 | 100.0% | 42 | ± 0 | ± 0 | ± 0 |
Effects
On the evening of the election, the top candidate of the Greens Nicole Buschenreiter announced her resignation.
At the constituent municipal council meeting on May 12, 2016, Matthias Stadler was re-elected mayor, while Franz Gunacker (SPÖ) and Matthias Adl (ÖVP) became vice mayors. Eight members of the SPÖ, three of the ÖVP and two of the FPÖ were elected to the city senate. At the same meeting, the composition of the committees was also decided, the number of which was reduced from ten to eight. Of these, the SPÖ leads five instead of six, the ÖVP one instead of three. As in the previous period, the FPÖ lead a committee, the Greens are leading a committee for the first time.
Web links
- Local council election 2016 on st-poelten.gv.at
- Interviews with the top candidates on orf.at :
- Interviews with the top candidates on dasmfg.at
Individual evidence
- ↑ Election of the municipal council: 7 lists start on April 17th , St. Pölten Konkret (online edition), March 9th, 2016
- ↑ a b c Official result of the 2016 municipal council election in the state capital St. Pölten on stp-konkret.at, April 18, 2016
- ^ St. Pölten: SPÖ holds an absolute majority . On: noe.orf.at , July 3, 2011
- ↑ Constituent meeting of the municipal council , press release of the city of St. Pölten, August 2, 2011
- ^ Resolutions of the city senate and municipal council meeting of February 27, 2012 , press release of the city of St. Pölten
- ^ Election to the municipal council in St. Pölten on April 17 , derStandard.at , January 18, 2016
- ↑ a b YouTube video BGM Matthias Stadler 2016 , January 14, 2016
- ↑ City Senate unanimously resolves the election date - information on the municipal council election on April 17 , St. Pölten Konkret (online edition), January 19, 2016
- ↑ St. Pölten: municipal council election in April , noe.orf.at, 13 January 2016
- ↑ a b Local council election: People's party is on early election on April 17th. prepared ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Stadtlandzeitung, January 14, 2016
- ↑ St. Pölten municipal council election, cpoe.or.at, February 8, 2016
- ↑ Communists do not run for election , NÖN , online edition, March 8, 2016
- ↑ st-poelten.spoe.at
- ↑ matthiasstadler.at
- ↑ City chief for reading , NÖN , online edition, March 22, 2016
- ^ Facebook: Matthias Stadler
- ↑ Municipal council election in St. Pölten Advertising expert assesses the parties' posters ( memento from September 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), heute.at , March 11, 2016
- ↑ Red captain should bring victory , Kurier , online edition, February 28, 2016
- ↑ St. Pölten: SPÖ starts municipal election campaign, orf.at, February 27, 2016
- ↑ St. Pölten: Stadler wants to hold an absolute majority , noe.orf.at, February 12, 2016
- ^ Political marginal notes , NÖN , online edition, March 1, 2016
- ↑ St. Pölten mayor promises more police at the train station , derStandard.at , March 18, 2016
- ↑ a b GR election in St. Pölten: Stadler presented key topics , Tiroler Tageszeitung , online edition, March 18, 2016
- ↑ Stadler / Pfister call for S-Bahn expansion for connections to the central area , APA , March 29, 2016
- ↑ a b St. Pölten: ÖVP awards mandates according to preferential votes , derStandard.at , February 18, 2016
- ↑ St. Pölten People's Party goes to the polls with an open preferential voting model , mein district.at, February 19, 2016
- ↑ matthias-adl.at
- ^ Matthias Adl , Facebook group
- ↑ Candidate selection is fixed: VP voters “tinker” team , NÖN , online edition, February 23, 2016
- ↑ a b GR election in St. Pölten: ÖVP starts with poster campaign , Tiroler Tageszeitung , online edition, March 4, 2016
- ↑ VP relies on posters , NÖN , online edition, March 8, 2016
- ↑ Local council election : This is how the Wirtschaftsbund St. Pölten wants to make it more attractive for companies ( memento of the original from March 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , mein district.at, March 23, 2016
- ^ ÖVP presented ideas for the economy - SPÖ countered , NÖN , online edition, March 23, 2016
- ↑ ÖVP wants to polish up St. Pölten's “suboptimal image” , derStandard.at , March 22, 2016
- ↑ a b St. Pölten: FPÖ City Councilor Nonner is a candidate for the Blüh list , derStandard.at , March 8, 2016
- ↑ 36 Blue line up , NÖN , online edition, March 15, 2016
- ↑ a b St. Pölten: FPÖ is aiming for a "historic" result , orf.at, March 3, 2016
- ↑ FP wants ice rink , NÖN , online edition, February 24, 2016
- ↑ FP wants “best result” , NÖN , online edition, March 8, 2016
- ↑ St. Pölten: FPÖ starts municipal election campaign, orf.at, March 12, 2016
- ↑ St. Pölten: FPÖ wants to "become stronger" , noe.orf.at, April 2, 2016
- ↑ Death threat against FPÖ top candidates in St. Pölten , derStandard.at , April 15, 2016
- ^ A b Nicole Buschenreiter in the NÖN-Word-Rap , NÖN , online edition, March 8, 2016
- ↑ electoral engagement on gruenestp.at
- ↑ Young Green St. Pölten present new team , mein district.at, March 23, 2016
- ↑ a b St. Pölten: NEOS wants to move into the town hall , orf.at. February 29, 2016
- ↑ NEOS want to compete in municipal council elections , NÖN , online edition, February 10, 2016
- ↑ Gotthard Gansch: MFG - Das Magazin / Issue 56 , November 2015, article The first harbingers
- ↑ The Neos are preparing for the election in St. Pölten , mein district.at, July 1, 2015
- ↑ NEOS fight for moving in , NÖN , online edition, February 29, 2016
- ^ Neos outraged - Eleven city councilors without a department in St. Pölten , heute.at , March 14, 2016
- ↑ Our plan for St. Pölten 2016
- ↑ NEOS St. Pölten ( Memento of the original from February 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ "BLÜH" list sets a mandate as its goal , NÖN , online edition, March 3, 2016
- ↑ St. Pölten: List Blüh sets itself a mandate as its goal , derStandard.at , March 3, 2016
- ↑ Polithaudegen Nonner expects 80 percent of his departure , Tips St. Pölten, January 29, 2016
- ↑ Local council election : "BLÜH" wants to conquer St. Pölten , mein district.at, February 20, 2016
- ↑ Die “kühnen” Greens , NÖN , online edition, February 23, 2016
- ^ GR election in St. Pölten: "dieKÜHNEN.jetzt" list starts on April 17 , Tiroler Tageszeitung , online edition, March 8, 2016
- ↑ dieKühnen. Now
- ^ New list of citizens with bold projects , meinviertel.at, March 12, 2016
- ↑ a b St. Pölten: Stable mood before the municipal council election , NÖN (online edition), February 16, 2016
- ↑ NÖN survey: 63 percent for City Manager Stadler , NÖN (online edition), February 16, 2016
- ^ SPÖ march through? "One should never be too sure" , Courier , April 13, 2016
- ↑ Results of all elections since 1945 on st-poelten.gv.at
- ↑ St. Pölten: SPÖ is expanding “Absolute” , noe.orf.at, April 17, 2016
- ↑ Mayor Matthias Stadler sworn in , noe.orf.at, May 12, 2016
