US embassy cable - 05VIENNA3269

UNCLAS VIENNA 003269 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/AGS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: PGOV, AU 
SUBJECT:  CONSERVATIVES LOSE GOVERNORSHIP OF STYRIA 
 
 
THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: In the state election in Styria on 
 
October 2, Chancellor Schuessel's conservative People's 
 
Party (OVP) suffered a significant defeat at the hands of 
 
the opposition Social Democrats (SPO).   The OVP failed 
 
to hold Styria's governorship for the first time in the 
 
post-World War II era.   A populist City Councilor from 
 
the state capital of Graz led the Communist Party (KPO) 
 
to a third-place finish - a showing based much more on 
 
personal charm than on ideology.  The Greens managed to 
 
hold onto their three seats in the state legislature. 
 
The right-wing Freedom Party (FPO), the "Alliance Future 
 
Austria" (BZO) of Carinthian governor Joerg Haider, and 
 
an independent list headed by OVP renegade Hirschmann all 
 
failed to make the cut for the legislature.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (U) vote pct., (change from 2000), legislature seats 
 
OVP     38.7  (-8.6)  24 
 
SPO     41.7  (+9.4)  25 
 
Greens   4.7  (-0.9)   3 
 
KPO      6.3  (+5.3)   4 
 
FPO      4.6  (-7.8)   - 
 
BZO      1.7    (-)    - 
 
Hirsch-  2.0    (-)    - 
 
Mann 
 
Electorate: 929,795  Voter Turnout:  75.6 Percent 
 
3.  (SBU) OVP politicians assigned the blame for their 
 
defeat to dissident Gerhard Hirschmann's muckraking 
 
campaign.  Hirschmann, a former Styrian OVP Party 
 
Manager, accused his former colleagues of malfeasance in 
 
scandals concerning mismanagement in the Styrian power 
 
company, fraudulent use of state subsidies for a game 
 
park owned by a prominent aristocratic family, as well as 
 
supposed OVP payoffs to convince Hirschmann not to run in 
 
the election.  In the end, the charges appeared to 
 
backfire, hurting Hirschmann as well as his erstwhile 
 
colleagues.  While Styrian Governor (and OVP state 
 
chairwoman) Waltraud Klasnic appeared to be losing 
 
control, SPO candidate Franz Voves coasted to victory 
 
with a press-the-flesh campaign and feelgood singalongs. 
 
4.  (SBU) The Greens lost some ground after a rather 
 
bland campaign by their top candidate but defended their 
 
three seats.  The Communists benefited from the personal 
 
appeal of the mild-mannered, grandfatherly Graz City 
 
Councilor Ernest Kaltenegger.  The Styrian ballot was the 
 
first one since the Freedom Party split.  The "old" FPO 
 
lost two-thirds of its support, missing the threshold for 
 
representation in the state parliament.  BZO chairman 
 
Haider's heavy involvement in the Styrian campaign did 
 
not help.  The result confirmed nationwide polls which 
 
show the BZO at only two to three percent. 
 
5.  (SBU) COMMENT: Haider's new spinoff party, BZO, has 
 
failed to establish itself anywhere other than on his 
 
home turf in Carinthia.   While the election turned on 
 
local issues, the losses come as a blow to both federal 
 
coalition partners.  OVP and BZO are likely to perform 
 
poorly in two more state elections to follow in October, 
 
in Burgenland and Vienna. As a result of the Styrian 
 
election, the federal coalition also loses its majority 
 
in Parliament's Upper House, or Bundesrat, composed of 
 
representatives of the federal states.  The Bundesrat has 
 
no veto, but can delay bills for up to six weeks. 
 
BROWN