Vienna elections confirmed for October

The current ruling coalition government of the city of Vienna decided the next elections for the Austrian capital is to held on Oct. 11.

In a joint statement from Mayor Michael Haeupl from the Social Democrats (SPOe) and Vice-Mayor Maria Vassilakou from the Greens on Monday, Haeupl said the month of June, around which there were significant earlier media speculation, had been "fairly quickly discarded."

"This government still has work to do. There is no reason to have a new election before the end of the statutory period of government," the two leaders stated.

Talking to journalists later, Haeupl said the reason behind the later date was largely due to a need to further implement aspects of the election platform, with decisions still to be made in areas such as the transport sector, zoning, housing, and hospital reform.

When asked whether the SPOe would like to maintain its coalition with the Greens following the election, Haeupl remained non-committal, saying "a coalition is not a marriage," but rather, "a contract of a period of time connected with certain content," and that after the electorate votes, a decision will be made.

Opposition parties criticized the selected date, with leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) Heinz-Christian Strache saying in a statement it showed "fear of loss of power" and that early elections would have "only brought benefits" for the federal capital.

Technically the elections, held every five years, could have been held as late as November, however, with the last elections taking place in 2010, and the legislative period beginning with the inaugural meeting of the Municipal Council and Parliament, which took place on Nov. 25, 2010. Endit