Politics
| District Directors since 1945 | |
|---|---|
| Eduard Pantucek (SPÖ) | 4/1945-7/1945 |
| Max Wopenka (SPÖ) | 1945–1952 |
| Josef Haas (SPÖ) | 1952–1964 |
| Wilhelm Weber (SPÖ) | 1964–1973 |
| Johann Paulas (SPÖ) | 1973–1980 |
| Otto Mraz (SPÖ) | 1980–1989 |
| Franz Haas (SPÖ) | 1989–2001 |
| Otmar Brix (SPÖ) | 2001–2003 |
| Renate Angerer (SPÖ) | 2003- |
Simmering was a stronghold for social democrats as early as the start of the 20th century. In the district vote of 1919, the social democrats won 21 positions in the district government, with the Christian Social Party taking the next largest vote with only 7 seats and the Tschechische Liste (literally Czech list) taking 2 seats. The social democrats of Simmering and of the rest of the so-called "Rotes Wien" (Red Vienna) pushed to build housing developments throughout Vienna and in 1934, 19 Gemeindebauten were built in Simmering.
The rise of Nazism in Vienna was hardly acknowledged in the vote of Simmering, as the party took only 7.2% of the vote in 1932, the worst outcome in the whole city. Even after 1945, the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) continued to dominate the votes. In the mid-1990s, the SPÖ fell from 59% to 48% of the vote and lost their majority, with the Freedom Party (FPÖ) gaining support to 31% of the vote. The trend reversed itself in 2001, and the SPÖ retook 59.22% of the vote, FPÖ took 21.37%, Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) had 9.82%, the Greens had 6.77%, and the Liberal Forum barely took a seat with 2.02% of the vote.
Read more about this topic: Simmering (Vienna)
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