Austria

Local council election Graz 2026

dbö

Die Grünen

FPÖ

Grazer Volkspartei

KPÖ

Liste GAZA

Neos

Piratenpartei Österreich

SPÖ

Plans to build a second football stadium were finally scrapped in 2023. Local councillors are now working with the clubs on a plan to expand the existing stadium in Liebenau and bring it up to Champions League standard. The city and the state have agreed to invest 30 million euros each, and the clubs Sturm and GAK would then jointly lease the stadium. However, the formal political decisions have yet to be made.

“Wohnen Graz”, a municipal housing association, manages around 4,500 council flats. However, the organisation has been recording losses running into millions year after year, most recently €8.7 million (2024) and €5.5 million (2025). Auditors regularly warn of the organisation’s financial difficulties. Rents in council housing are around 40 per cent below the benchmark.

In several Styrian municipalities, parents who do not send their children under the age of six to a nursery or crèche receive financial support. This ranges from 120 to 250 euros, depending on the municipality. The ‘family support’ is intended to ease the strain on the municipal budget, as providing childcare places is expensive. Politically, the support is also referred to as a ‘staying-at-home allowance’, as it results in one parent – usually the mother – not working but staying at home.

At present, there is a compulsory year of nursery school. The federal government plans to extend this to two years. Many parents want to send their children to a crèche or nursery school earlier, but often cannot find a place. This makes it difficult to balance work and family life. In Germany, since 2013, children aged one year and over have had a legal right to a childcare place.

In the Graz election on 28 June, 225,883 people are eligible to vote, of whom 188,441 are Austrian nationals and 37,442 are citizens of an EU country. A further 40,088 people are not eligible to vote; although they are of legal age and have their main place of residence in Graz, they are nationals of a non-EU country. This group in particular has grown significantly compared to the 2021 election.

As a general rule, people seeking asylum in Austria are not permitted to work in paid employment whilst their application is being processed. There are, however, exceptions: the AMS may grant a work permit if an employer submits an application to that effect. Before doing so, however, it must be demonstrated that no Austrian, EU citizen or foreign national who is already well-integrated and qualified for the job is available on the labour market.

Currently, you must have been registered as a resident of Graz for at least one year to be eligible for council housing. Language skills do not formally play a role in this process. In other cities, however, a good command of German is definitely a prerequisite. In Klagenfurt, since 2025, you have needed to have German language skills at A2 level to be eligible for council housing.

In 2022, the state granted local authorities the legal power to levy a tax on vacant flats. The maximum rate is ten euros per square metre per year. However, local authorities must enact their own regulations to this effect. Many have already done so, but Graz has not yet done so – citing the extremely incomplete address and housing register, which is gradually being updated.

The current state government has abolished the ‘Luft-100er’: on days when air quality was poor, a speed limit of 100 km/h automatically applied on the motorway around Graz. On the section near Feldkirchen, the ‘Luft-100er’ has now been converted into a permanent 100 km/h limit, primarily for noise reduction reasons. Everywhere else, the speed limit is 130 km/h. In addition to reducing noise pollution, fuel consumption is significantly lower at 100 km/h, as are CO2 and NOx emissions.

This year, for the first time, there is a cap on how much each party is allowed to spend on the election campaign: the limit is 400,000 euros, which must not be exceeded. In the past, some parties spent significantly more, with sums of up to one million euros involved. In other cities, there are discussions about linking the spending cap to the population size.

There are currently 23,871 car parking spaces in Graz, 13,576 of which are in the blue short-stay parking zone around the city centre, and 10,295 in the green zone. The city council has been reducing the number of parking spaces for years. The current coalition of the KPÖ, the Greens and the SPÖ has removed around 1,400 spaces since 2021, whilst the previous coalition of the ÖVP and the FPÖ removed around 800.

At present, Jakominiplatz is the only square in Graz under police surveillance via CCTV. There are political calls to install cameras in other squares as well. The main square (Billa corner) and the Volksgarten are the main areas under discussion, with the aim of improving the ability to tackle drug-related crime. The Ministry of the Interior is currently reviewing a proposal to this effect.

Protection zones are a police measure and can be imposed in areas where children and young people in particular are directly threatened by criminal activities such as drug dealing. There are currently two in Graz, in the Volksgarten and Metahofpark. From 2019 to 2021, there was also one in the Stadtpark. A protection zone can be designated for a period of six months at a time, after which the police must assess whether the threat still exists. Only then can it be extended.

The number of on-street parking spaces has been falling for years. There is regular debate about the number of underground parking spaces available in the centre of Graz. There are no official figures, particularly regarding occupancy rates. If one adds up the figures provided by the individual car parks, there are around 5,000 underground parking spaces available in and around the city centre.

Many drug users inject themselves in public toilets. If used syringes are not disposed of properly, this poses a health risk to bystanders. Around one million syringes are recorded in Graz each year. That is why, in 2025, the city council unanimously called for the establishment of ‘injection rooms’ where drug users can administer their drugs under medical supervision and in hygienic conditions. Such facilities have long existed in cities in Germany and Switzerland; in Austria, federal legislation would be required to permit this.

The internal “i”, the colon, the asterisk – there are now many different ways in which gender-neutral language can be expressed. However, there is also regular criticism that this makes texts unreadable. Under the FPÖ-ÖVP coalition, the province of Styria introduced a ban on gender-neutral language in the civil service in 2025. Women and intersex people are now “included” in the masculine form.

There is still a great deal of construction going on in Graz. The city knows which districts and neighbourhoods are lacking in green spaces – but rectifying this is proving difficult. The zoning plan regulates where and how densely development is permitted. There are still many plots of land that, although currently undeveloped, are zoned for building. If the city were to rezone some of these plots back to green space, the owners would have to be compensated for the loss in value.

In 2003, Graz was European Capital of Culture. This provided a massive boost to the arts scene, but also had an impact beyond it. In 2020, Graz once again placed a strong emphasis on culture and declared its own Year of Culture, which was allocated a special budget of 7.4 million euros. However, the coronavirus pandemic threw a spanner in the works for the event.

Styria adds its own regional licence fee of €4.70 on top of the €15.30 ORF licence fee that every household is required to pay; this amount is earmarked for culture and sport. In this way, €22.5 million flows into culture and €7.5 million into sport each year. The provincial government has announced the abolition of the provincial levy, and the cultural and sporting sectors fear the financial consequences.

The ruins of Gösting Castle are owned by the heirs of Hubert Auer. A lease agreement between the town and the owners has been terminated, and the castle is now up for public sale. It was offered to the town this year for around 1.4 million euros – including 25 hectares of surrounding woodland – but the coalition rejected the offer as too expensive and estimates its maximum value at 500,000 euros.

To protect the historic old town, there are several conservation areas in Graz. The strictest protection applies to the centre, with its unique rooftops; the axis leading to Eggenberg Palace and the palace itself are also subject to protection. The same applies to other areas, particularly those dating from the Wilhelminian period. In these zones, all building projects must be approved by the Old Town Expert Commission. For some conservationists, this is not enough; for some developers, it is too much red tape.

Graz has many pedestrian zones. In many of these, cycling is permitted, officially at walking pace. In the pedestrian zone in the Franziskanerviertel and, more recently, in parts of Schmiedgasse, cycling has been banned or restricted to certain times because there were too many conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians.

Barbecuing is not permitted in the city’s parks and woodlands. There is just one exception: a public barbecue area with several fire pits has been set up by the floodplain meadows along the River Mur in the south of the city. For many families, this is the only way to organise large gatherings involving barbecues; however, some local residents feel disturbed by the smoke and noise.

The Graz outdoor dining regulations currently stipulate a closing time of 11.30 pm. This was a compromise reached following years of heated debate between the city council and a residents’ group, which was regularly taken to court. In other cities, such as Klagenfurt and Salzburg, the closing time is midnight.

Graz will elect its municipal council on 28 June. The council will then elect the mayor by a majority vote. This is the case in all Styrian municipalities, but in six federal states, mayors are elected directly – in those places, voters cast two votes: one for the party and one for the mayoral candidate. These votes do not have to be the same. If no one clears the 50 per cent threshold, there is a run-off between the two highest-placed candidates after the first round of voting.

It sounds a bit of a mouthful: the proportional representation system. In practice, it means that once a party has received a certain number of votes, it is represented not only on the local council but also in the city senate – regardless of whether it is part of a coalition or not. The rules are different at national level, and the province of Styria abolished proportional representation in 2011. There, only those who are part of a coalition can hold a government post.

In 2018, the dog licence fee was abolished in Graz. Until then, dog owners had to pay 60 euros for one dog and 90 euros for each additional dog. This amounted to just over 720,000 euros in annual revenue for the city, but it was argued at the time that the administration involved was very labour-intensive. Many people simply did not pay the dog licence fee.

In 2025, the provincial government enabled Styrian local authorities to introduce sector-specific bans on begging. This would mean that begging would be completely prohibited in clearly designated areas, with fines of up to 5,000 euros. So far, no local authority has introduced such a sector-specific ban on begging, but Bruck an der Mur is on the verge of doing so.

The Graz Exhibition and Congress Company (MCG) is under financial pressure. The new management team led by Martin Ullrich has put forward a plan aimed at turning the company’s fortunes around. At the heart of this plan is the Steiermarkhalle, which would cost €25 million to build and is intended to boost the congress and conference business. In return, the old halls would be demolished.

Local government funding operates in two ways: through party funding under state law and through funding for political groups. In the wake of the FPÖ financial scandal, calls have grown for stricter oversight of how these funds are actually used. At present, it is sufficient for parties to obtain a certificate from auditors of their own choosing. There is no independent oversight.

Graz Airport generates millions in profits year after year, yet Holding Graz is considering a partial sale. The provincial government has expressed interest as a strategic partner. The city is also open to the idea of a private investor taking an operational stake.

Students often have tight budgets, so affordable food is a priority for many. However, the traditional university canteen had to close in 2024; at Sonnenfelsplatz, you can now heat up your own food at the ‘Mensa Space’.

Graz is the economic powerhouse of Styria, yet the city faces competition from other locations, particularly from municipalities in the wider Graz area. Through various funding schemes, the city authorities are seeking to provide incentives for businesses. One such initiative is the investment fund, through which the city could take a stake in innovative start-ups.

Commercial premises in Graz are frequently left vacant. Young entrepreneurs in particular sometimes struggle to find a suitable location for their business venture. A rent subsidy from the city can help them get through those challenging early years. In the past, rent subsidy schemes were available for young entrepreneurs on certain streets, such as Jakoministraße.

More and more people are installing their own swimming pools in their gardens. This leads to high water consumption, which is particularly noticeable in the spring, and is already occasionally putting the security of supply at risk in some local authorities. As a result, there are repeated calls from politicians for a deterrent effect: the more water that is consumed, the more expensive each litre should become.

In Vienna, public transport runs around the clock on Friday and Saturday nights to ensure that night owls can get home safely. In Graz, there is currently the Nightline – nine night bus routes that depart from Jakominiplatz at 0.30, 1.30 and 2.30 am on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as on the eve of public holidays.

In 2024, Graz launched a pilot project and provided employment for 15 people who care for their relatives. The project costs the city around 650,000 euros a year and has been extended ever since. It is based on a similar model implemented in Burgenland. The background to this is that up to 80 per cent of all people who require care are looked after by relatives.

Local council election Graz 2026

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