Linz mayoral election with a shameful voter turnout of only 42.2 percent:

The population of Linz could not have expressed their rejection of the ruling political caste even more obviously: in yesterday’s direct mayoral election, almost 90,000 of the 151,668 people eligible to vote stayed at home – even though this election was not about parties, but about personalities. “This devastating voter turnout shows that people are fed up with the self-proclaimed representatives of the people, who largely consist of people who have only worked in politics all their lives and who have completely outlandish salaries of 15,000 euros or more and have no idea what real life is “, says MFG club chairman Manuel Krautgartner. He calls the Linz mayoral direct election “a personality election without personalities,” which clearly shows the disinterest of the population. A complete policy and system change is therefore needed more than ever. “Otherwise we will soon have ‘election winners’ with only 10 or 15 percent of the possible votes.”

“Imagine there are elections and no one is going”: That’s exactly what happened again yesterday – this time in the Linz mayoral election, in which more people than ever before stayed away from the ballot box. Only 42.2 percent of those eligible to vote wanted to vote for one of the seven candidates – the sad climax of a frightening downward spiral: in 2021 the turnout was 57.5 percent, and in 2015 it was even 67.7 percent.

The colorless SPÖ candidate Dietmar Prammer boasts that he clearly won the election with 40.2 percent of the votes cast. But if you include everyone who didn’t vote in the first place, the “election victory” of 16.9 percent is anything but glorious – on the contrary: the election results across Austria are increasingly showing that non-voters are usually the big election winners – and that’s frightening large distance.

This is what the election results of the Linz mayoral election would look like if all eligible voters – including non-voters – were taken into account:

1. Non-voters 57.8%

2. Dietmar Prammer (SPÖ) 16.9%

3. Michael Raml (FPÖ) 8.5%

4. Martin Hajart (ÖVP) 7.7%

5. Eva Schobesberger (GREEN) 5.5%

“Election winner” Prammer from the SPÖ proved that the message has still not reached the ruling politicians after the election in the ORF studio: “This 42 percent voter turnout is actually not that bad and is proof that the people of Linz are satisfied with the city’s politics” – incredibly outlandish statements that speak for themselves.

Shows: There needs to be fewer apparatchiks – Prammer was also only active in politics throughout his life – and more real-life personalities in politics. Manuel Krautgartner calls for countermeasures against this voter exodus: “This is exactly why MFG 2021 was founded – by people for people. We still do not believe that such voter turnouts simply have to be accepted. As long as there is no self-reflection in politics, nothing will change. There is no longer any talk of an actual majority. Soon we will have 30 percent voter turnout in Austria and a party or candidate at the top with 10 or 15 percent of the possible votes. What does this have to do with the will of the people?”