Abstract
This chapter explores the results of the anticipated municipal elections that in 2024 were held in Brixen/Bressanone, Leifers/Laives, Lana, St. Martin in Passeier/San Martino in Passiria and Wengen/La Valle. These had become necessary after the mayors of the first four municipalities were elected members of the South Tyrolean provincial parliament in October 2023, while in the case of Wengen, the incumbent Angel Miribung died in a mountain accident. The outcomes of these anticipated municipal elections were primarily characterized by continuity: the Südtiroler Volkspartei (SVP) continues to dominate the municipal councils, citizens' lists performed strongly and the feared shift to the right failed to materialize. A surprise, however, came in Leifers, where the bilingual SVP candidate Giovanni Seppi won a hard-fought run-off election against his rival Claudia Furlani (Uniti per Laives). In the run-up to the regular municipal elections due in May 2025 in all other South Tyrolean municipalities, the anticipated elections of 2024 represented a first gauge of the general mood in South Tyrolean municipal politics.