Updated -- Referendum Win for Munich Bid

(ATR) Bid leaders for Munich 2018 win a vote of confidence from townspeople in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, planned as the site for Olympic ski events.

The vote was58 percent in favor of the ballot question supporting the Olympics.

A second question on the ballot, calling for the city ofGarmisch to withdraw its support of the bidfailed, drawing 49percentin favor, with just over 50percent against the measure sponsored by opponents.

Speaking to reporters late Sunday night by conference call, Bernard Schwank, bid CEO said the margin is a "very clear and favorable majority" for the bid.

"Tonight it was a necessity to get a clear vote" he said.

He added that Garmisch, which was the site of the 2011 alpine skiing world chamionships,had full venues during competition and that is what matters most.

"The facts the IOC is really interested in is having people coming to the competitions. That is really the most important thing."

Bid chairman Thomas Bach said hefelt the region would support the Games.

"For me it was just a confirmation. I was always confident about this vote because I know about the strong arguments."

The turning point came, Bach said, when it "became obvious what positive impact the Games would have on the region...This is what the citizens finally realized. This explained the clear and positive result."

Axel Doering, Chairman of Nolympia also said the result was not a surprise for him.

He apparently feels there could be future legal challenges that could derail Munich 2018, but Bach said "that possibility is over and everything is exhausted".

With just over two months until the IOC vote in Durban, Sunday’s win is crucial for Munich, if only because a loss could have been devastating. The Bavarian bid faces strong competition from PyeongChang, with Annecy meanwhile gaining momentum.

Though the referendum is non-binding, its outcome gives IOC voters – and rival bids – tangible evidence that Olympic opposition at a key venue cluster was more bark than bite.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, located about an hour south of Munich, is well-known globally as a winter sports mecca. The resort town hosted the Winter Games by itself back in 1936 and staged the alpine skiing world championships in February.

About 21,000 residentswere eligibleto vote, with turnout at 60 percent.

Talk of the referendum first surfaced early last year among leftist Greens in Bavaria, then escalated in February when protest group NOlympia launched a petition drive. In roughly a month, its leaders gathered hundreds more than the 1,700 signatures required to land its question on Sunday’s ballot.

For Munich, the vote was precariously timed, coming just two days before the IOC Evaluation Commission releases its report on the 2018 bids.

On May 18 and 19, officials from the three candidate cities will then present technical elements of their bids at a briefing to the IOC membership in Lausanne.

The task of convincing the IOC the Games are welcome in Garmisch now becomes a bit easier for Schwank, Bach and bid chair Katarina Witt thanks to Sunday’s vote.

Referendums in the past have been problematic for bids as well as host cities. After the U.S. city of Denver was awarded the 1976 Olympics, Colorado voters rejected spending state money on the Games, leading the IOC to select Innsbruck as a backup.

In 2002, Bern abandoned the race for 2010 when city voters turned away a bid even after the IOC included the Swiss capital on the shortlist.

A few months later, Vancouver succeeded with a referendum that solidified its position as the front runner in the 2010 campaign.

Now nine weeks out from the host vote in Durban, PyeongChang 2018 enjoys public support at the 90 percent level and is sure to avoid the hurdle just passed by Munich. Although there is opposition to Annecy 2018, there are no plans for a referendum.

Written by Matthew Grayson.