The Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) has been on everyone’s lips since Elke Kahr was appointed mayor of the Styrian capital Graz in 2021. Kay-Michael Dankl, a KPÖ politician, also entered the race in the runoff election for the mayor’s office held in Salzburg on Sunday. He had to admit defeat to the SPÖ candidate and favorite Bernhard Auinger. The mere fact that Dankl made it to the runoff vote can be seen as an immense success for the communists.
Andreas Auzinger is very happy regarding the success of his party colleague. The self-confessed communist is himself a local councilor in his home community of Peterskirchen. For him, the KPÖ’s successes in Salzburg and Austria are no coincidence.
Cheap housing
“We have been very active for several years. With our topics such as affordable housing, we are hitting the nerve of the population. Housing must not become a luxury. It cannot be the case that many Austrians have to spend half of their income on rent. We demand that rents be frozen in the coming years and no longer rise. The KPÖ takes the concerns of the population seriously and not only advocates for large industrialists like other parties,” says Auzinger.
It is important for the Peterskirchen resident to emphasize that both he and the KPÖ clearly distance themselves from Russia and its President Vladimir Putin. “Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Russia is no longer a communist country, but a dictatorship. Vladimir Putin is not a communist. He has sympathies for fascists all over the world. That’s no secret,” says Auzinger.
KPÖ Innviertel is growing
At the moment, the Peterskirchen resident does not believe that there might be a communist mayor in the Innviertel in the near future. At least not in the coming years. The major parties, especially the ÖVP and FPÖ, are too strong in the Innviertel. He already believes there will be more Innviertel KPÖ local councilors following the mayoral election in 2027. “When we founded the KPÖ Innviertel in 2018, we had eight members. Today there are almost 30 and the trend is rising. We are on the right track.” says Auzinger. According to Auzinger, the fact that the KPÖ is on the rise will become clear in the election in the fall. The goal of the KPÖ is to enter parliament. “We can and will do that,” says Auzinger.
Author
Omer Tarabic
Local editor Innviertel
Omer Tarabic
