A municipal election in Graz last autumn triggered a political tremor in Austria: The communist party KPÖ surprisingly became the strongest party with almost 30 percent and thus pushed the conservative ÖVP off the throne in the city government.
Graz has had a communist mayor for a year now and governs in a coalition with the Greens and SPÖ.
At the federal level, Austria has no party to the left of the SPÖ and the Greens that would be represented in parliament.
There is no such thing as Die Linke in Germany.
How did the communists in Graz still manage to be elected by so many people?
And how is life now in Graz under “communist rule”?
In this episode of »Inside Austria« we deal with the left in Austria.
We want to know why the KPÖ is so successful in Graz and whether the trend is also developing towards the federal level.
And we take a look at Germany.
Will Die Linke soon disappear into insignificance there, like the KPÖ in Austria for a long time?
In the weekly podcast “Inside Austria”, SPIEGEL and STANDARD look together at the big and small scandals in Austria.
Together with journalists from both editorial offices, we reconstruct cases and events that move the country.
We look into political abysses, follow the investigations into the cause of Sebastian Kurz and his ÖVP.
And inform about an important Austrian topic of the week.
