Acting Vice Mayor Karin Hörzing is not complying with the demands of the ÖVP, FPÖ, Greens, Neos, Linz+ and MFG in the municipal council. The latter wanted to vote on December 8th.
The new election in Linz, which was necessary after the resignation of Mayor Klaus Luger (SPÖ), will not take place this year, but on January 12, 2025. This was announced by the acting deputy mayor Karin Hörzing (SPÖ) on Wednesday afternoon. In doing so, she did not comply with the demand of the majority of ÖVP, FPÖ, Greens, Neos, Linz+ and MFG in the municipal council. They wanted December 8 as the election date.
Despite the proximity to Christmas, those parties pleaded for a “quick restart for Linz” in a “cross-party solidarity”. Hörzing “did not follow the request to hold the election on the earliest possible day, December 8, 2024,” she said. Her main argument was that Advent was “family time.” With the expected runoff election on December 22, this would then not apply to “countless employees of the municipal administration” on two Sundays in Advent. Electoral law experts, such as those from the Ministry of the Interior, had also advised against an election date in December: “If there were no emergency situation that made an election date absolutely necessary, no election should be held during the Christmas period,” said Hörzing.
So far, Dietmar Prammer is running for the SPÖ, Martin Hajart for the ÖVP, Michael Raml for the FPÖ, Eva Schobesberger for the Greens, Georg Redlhammer for the Neos, Gerlinde Grünn for the KPÖ and Lorenz Potocnik for Linz+.
By setting the election date late, Hörzing was responding to “the sole wish of the unknown SPÖ top candidate,” the ÖVP faction commented on the decision to set the date for January 12. “Even if the democratic majority was ignored, the election date must be accepted,” the press release continued. The FPÖ spoke of “delayed elections” and a “solo effort by the SPÖ,” which was “further proof” that “the dominant power of the Linz SPÖ must urgently be ended.”
