Vienna Socialists survive challenge

VIENNA — The Socialist party held on to Vienna City Hall in a municipal election Sunday, fighting off a challenge from a rightist populist party campaigning on Austrian concerns over mass migration.

With all votes except absentee ballots counted, the Socialists received 39.5 percent of the ballot, down nearly five percentage points. The Freedom Party had 31 percent, up more than 5 percentage points from the last election five years ago.

The result leaves the Socialists in position to continue governing the Austrian capital in coalition. Still, they give the Freedom Party its best-ever result in Vienna. They also reflect voter anxiety about the thousands of migrants entering Austria daily as they flee conflict in the Mideast and elsewhere.

The preliminary results showed the Green party with 11.6 percent. That would leave it in position to remain as the Socialist coalition partner. Losing significant backing was the centrist People’s Party at 9.2 percent, more than 4 percentage points below its 2010 showing.

Also clearing the 5 percent hurdle needed to gain seats in the Vienna legislature was the liberal NEOS, according to the preliminary results. Contesting its first Vienna election, it won 6.2 percent of the vote.

With another five-year term for his Socialists a certainty, Vienna Mayor Michael Haeupl said he “could live well” with the results. Alluding to the Freedom Party’s anti-immigrant message, he said he remains convinced that people fleeing terror and hunger have to be helped, adding “that’s what I have stood for in my whole political life.”

Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache also said he was satisfied.

While 67.6 percent of the electorate voted five years ago, the estimated turnout for Sunday’s vote stood at 74 percent, including absentee ballots still to be counted.

Runoff mayoral elections also were held Sunday in 44 communities in Upper Austria province. But “Red Vienna” was a special prize. The city has been governed by the Socialists since the end of World War II.

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