The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) also suffered losses and finished in fourth place on 11%, while The Greens moved into third with 17%.

[1][2] Siegfried Nagl, ÖVP mayor of Graz since 2003, announced that he would resign in light of his party's poor result.

The KPÖ subsequently formed a coalition with the Greens and SPÖ, and Elke Kahr was elected mayor by the Gemeinderat on 17 November with 28 out of 46 votes.

[3][4] The Styrian constitution mandates that positions in municipal government (city councillors, German: Stadträten) be allocated between parties proportionally in accordance with the share of votes won by each; this is known as Proporz.

While conceding the election, mayor Siegfried Nagl quipped: "You can see that the clocks in Graz run differently than in the rest of Austria.

Although Nagl ruled out working with the KPÖ during the campaign, the new ÖVP leadership took a noticeably softer stance, raising the possibility of cooperation between the two.

Elke Kahr previously voiced her preference for pragmatic cooperation on policy matters and "free play of groups in the Gemeinderat" rather than a fixed coalition pact; the process for electing the mayor could enable the KPÖ to win even without a majority.

Elke Kahr described a "socially, climate-friendly and democratically transparent" Graz as their goal, with plans to expand community housing, access to transit and education, and transform the city centre into a car-free green space.

Overall, the KPÖ will also hold the finance, health, housing, integration, and education portfolios, with Manfred Eber joining Robert Krotzer as the party's third city councillor.