The centre-left deputy mayor of Salzburg, Bernhard Auinger, beat his Communist rival Kay-Michael Dankl in a run-off vote for mayor on Sunday and pledged to work with him after Dankl focused on high housing costs in one of Austria's hardest-hit cities. Dankl, 35, led his party to second place in this month's city council election, close behind Auinger's Social Democrats.
Just 821 votes separated the two men in the separate, first-round vote for mayor of the country's fourth largest city, best known to tourists as the home of Mozart and "The Sound of Music". "Apart from the day I met my wife and the birth of my two wonderful daughters, today is definitely the happiest day of my life," Auinger, 50, said in a statement to the media alongside Dankl after he emerged the clear winner with most votes counted from the second round. "I believe that Kay will be a strong addition to our city government