Even if it seems to be quiet from the outside – behind the scenes in the state capital, things are still lively. Above all, there are more and more political insiders who cannot imagine that there are “real peace talks” between the groups for Innsbruck and the city ÖVP, combined with the goal of conquering the executive chair in the direct mayoral elections in April next year.
Whence these doubts? The past probably plays an important role here. Above all by one person: Christine Oppitz-Plörer, who is undisputedly number one in her group Für Innsbruck. What she says counts, pecks. The rest is often only allowed to nod. Oppitz-Plörer sent ÖVP into opposition. Your political life is characterized by many highs, but also very hard impacts on the ground. In 2010 she followed in the footsteps of Mayor Hilde Zach, who was already very ill at the time. In 2012 she was elected mayor for the first time. In a tight runoff against the then ÖVP candidate Christoph Platzgummer. He had the whole ÖVP machinery to strengthen his back, but still lost. But Oppitz-Plörer didn’t forget that, she knew how to take revenge and sent the ÖVP, the party with the most votes, mercilessly into the opposition. For the first time since 1945, the People’s Party in Innsbruck had nothing to report. Oppitz-Plörer formed a government with the left wing, i.e. the Greens and the SPÖ. This in turn drove the ÖVP to strip Oppitz-Plörer of his seat on the state party executive, which later resulted in his automatic expulsion from the party. The motto of this ÖVP-FI power struggle has long been: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Platter should be overthrown But Oppitz-Plörer’s revenge followed immediately. She founded the new list called Vorwarts Tirol. With this, she openly declared war on the then governor Günther Platter in the 2013 state elections. Platter should be overthrown. Oppitz-Plörer had, among other things, ex-ÖVP state councilor Anna Hosp on board. But other ÖVP grandees also lurked in the background. The election turned into bankruptcy, the party fell out. Oppitz-Plörer’s political descent began. In the municipal council and mayoral elections in 2018, Für Innsbruck was only the third strongest behind the Greens and the FPÖ. In the mayoral election, she lost to Willi with 47 to 53 percent and was “only” vice mayor. And not for too long: on the night of October 11, 2019, Oppitz-Plörer had to experience what was probably her most bitter political moment: on the initiative of the FPÖ, she was voted out as vice mayor. Greens, Neos, Gerechte Innsbruck, the ALI and Fritz lists agreed. Of course, the ÖVP did not go along with it at the time. To this day nobody knows why. There are only rumors here. For example, that the mood between the FI and the ÖVP should not be further poisoned with regard to the 2024 election. However, as mentioned at the beginning, many political insiders doubt whether the wounds of the past will ever heal.
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