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During the Viennese mayoral and district elections today, the Social Democrats were able to secure a landslide victory, reaching around 42% of the total vote. The conservative People's Party was only able to reach just below 19% of the popular vote. Both of the official far-right parties (there's a case to be made that the People's Party sneakily slipped into that territory as well) have lost a significant amount of the electorate amidst a plethora of scandals and in-fighting, trailing behind in the single digits each.
I've voted for the Social Democrats for the first time in ages. While I'm not completely averse to them, certain sectors within their party have pursued corporate or opportunist interests that didn't quite jive with the overall left-leaning/socially-oriented image they've been meaning to project and maintain. That has steered me towards smaller left-leaning parties with more progressive agendas in the past. I've seen certain fractions of the party push some progressive agendas in the last few months though and was a bit frustrated with some of the choices the Green Party (not to be compared with their American equivalent, they are quite different) made once they entered into a coalition with the conservatives (still a weird, quite fraught partnership), so it was a tough decision this time. The only other feasable option would have been a party so small, they don't really have a prayer of having much say.
Anyway: Long story short - Even though it was a tough call this time, I'm really happy with the results. It shows that my town stuck to its guns and didn't give in to the saber rattling and bad faith arguments of reactionaries seeking to use these tough times to their advantage. The People's Party didn't really do themselves any favor by relying on the old specter of blaming the capital city for all of the country's woes on their nationwide platform. But the openly real far-right parties were gaining uncomfortable momentum throughout the last few years. To see them lose this spectacularly is cathartic to say the least. And today's vote reflected the Viennese people's frustration with their constant bullshit. At least some good news in times such as these.
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