Vienna mayor keeps post, but far right gains in city poll

M&C

Oct 10, 2010, 17:35 GMT

Vienna - Vienna's Social Democratic Mayor Michael Haeupl held on to his post in elections in the Austrian capital on Sunday, according to projections that also showed big gains for the anti- immigration Freedom Party.

But the Social Democrats lost ground by receiving only 44 per cent of the vote - down 5 per cent - for the city council, which elects the mayor.

Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache had run on the slogan 'Let's defend our Vienna blood,' a strategy that won him 27 per cent of the vote, 12 per cent more than in 2005.

With the Social Democrats losing their absolute majority on the city council, Strache urged Haeupl to include the Freedom Party in a coalition.

'Apparently this is the wish of many Viennese,' Strache noted.

'A governing coalition with the Freedom Party - I'm sorry, but I can't do that,' Haeupl said.

He has said he would rather govern jointly with the centre-right People's Party or the Green party. Both movements suffered losses Sunday.

The election campaigns had focussed on the issue of integration. The Freedom Party railed against Muslim women's headscarves and Turkish immigrants, while the Social Democrats portrayed Strache's followers as neo-Nazis.

Haeupl was a biologist before entering politics. The gecko expert has held the mayoral post since 1994.