VIENNA (Reuters) – The centre-left deputy mayor of Salzburg, Bernhard Auinger, defeated his Communist opponent Kay-Michael Dankl in a run-off election for mayor on Sunday. He pledged to collaborate with Dankl, who focused on addressing high housing costs in one of Austria’s most affected cities.
Dankl, 35, led his party to a close second place in the city council election earlier this month, trailing behind Auinger’s Social Democrats by just 821 votes in the first-round vote for mayor of the country’s fourth-largest city. Salzburg is best known for being the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for “The Sound of Music.”
“Apart from the day I met my wife and the birth of my two wonderful daughters, today is undoubtedly the happiest day of my life,” said Auinger, 50, in a statement to the media alongside Dankl after emerging as the clear winner with the majority of votes counted from the second round. He secured 63.1% of the vote compared to Dankl’s 36.9%.
“I believe that Kay will be a valuable addition to our city government. I am confident that we will collaborate effectively,” Auinger stated. While Austria’s second-largest city, Graz, already has a Communist mayor, winning in Salzburg would have been a rare triumph for a party not currently represented in the national parliament.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Auinger expressed skepticism about Dankl’s proposal to construct 1,000 units of subsidized rental housing annually to address the city’s housing crisis, suggesting a target of 1,500 over a five-year period instead. However, he did indicate his support for Dankl to oversee housing matters in the city.
“The fact that four out of 10 voters placed their trust in us during today’s election demonstrates that many individuals desire a different approach to social policy,” Dankl remarked. Speaking to Puls 24 television afterward, he emphasized, “The primary issue in Salzburg is the continual escalation of housing costs. The city administration could take steps to address this, such as increasing investments in subsidized rental housing.”
“Measures should be implemented to better regulate the misuse of residential space through Airbnb, real estate speculation, and the presence of vacant apartments,” Dankl added. (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Frances Kerry)
