At the start of the party conference of the Austrian Social Democracy in Linz, the moderator said that she had a task that many comrades probably did not envy: to moderate an event that had caused a lot of arguments and bad blood beforehand. She asked, concerned, to be treated with respect.
But at the end of the day, despite all fears, the atmosphere was surprisingly peaceful. Hans Peter Doskozil, governor of Burgenland, was elected new party leader with 53 percent; his challenger Andreas Babler, mayor of the small town of Traiskirchen in Lower Austria, still managed almost 47 percent – a surprisingly close result. The coming weeks and months will show whether this will put an end to all rumors of a party split and end the internal power struggle that has been raging in the SPÖ for months, if not years. It is not certain that Babler, who – largely unknown in the party before the leadership dispute – was most recently carried away by a wave of euphoria in parts of the party, will retire again as mayor.
The previous chairwoman, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, not only resigned from the chair of the SPÖ before the party congress, but had withdrawn from politics altogether. She had done the worst in the primary election a few weeks ago and said goodbye in a last speech in parliament, pointing out that “a new understanding of political leadership” is needed that “is not limited to the admiration of male power rituals”.
Doskozil promises: There will be no coalitions with the FPÖ and ÖVP
The duel between the two remaining applicants for the SPÖ leadership, which – after a bitter dispute over processes, statutes and a member survey without a runoff election – was now decided at the special party conference in Upper Austria, should finally bring peace to social democracy. Doskozil, who is on the left in social policy and on the right in migration policy, had given a pragmatic, more state-supporting speech that the Austrian media rated as his “first chancellor’s speech”; after all, the new chairman should also be the top candidate in the next elections. Climate and asylum policy did not occur with the Burgenlander.
Babler had carried the delegates away with a loud, fiery speech in which he called for a new awakening, a new passion for social democracy. the SPÖ must campaign for labor migration and not just bring highly qualified people into the country; the ecological catastrophe is also a question of distribution, in which the socially weakest should not pay the highest price.
In the end, Doskozil made a promise that could shift the political discourse in the country: If the Social Democrats emerged as the strongest force in the next elections, there would be no coalition with him with the right-wing populist, in parts right-wing extremist FPÖ – and also no coalition with the give ÖVP. However, it is a long way to an Austrian traffic light consisting of SPÖ, Neos and Greens, as envisaged by the new SPÖ boss. The FPÖ is currently far ahead in polls with around 28 percent; Conservatives and Social Democrats are roughly equal at 23 percent.