Nobody in the VAZ event center in St. Pölten had the slightest doubt that Sebastian Kurz would be re-elected with excellent results at the 39th national party conference of the ÖVP. He had achieved 98.7 percentage points in 2017, this time many were hoping for almost a hundred. It turned out to be 99.44 – a huge success for the conservative, who turned 35 on Friday. Kurz thanked them for the great support.
The party chairman had moved into the hall to the great cheer of the approximately 1,300 guests, including around 500 delegates, and had given a humorous, anecdotal, rather thin speech in which he only spoke a few sentences on important topics such as the climate crisis, migration or social issues said. The Greens, with whom the ÖVP governs in a coalition, were just as absent in his speech as the European Union, and Afghanistan was only mentioned in passing in his feel-good speech.
Rather, he moved those present with some personal remarks – for example, that he had briefly considered giving up because of political attacks in the past year, which had culminated in an advertisement for false statements. “There were quite a few days when I asked myself whether I was really right there; whether that’s what you want in your own life; how long you can endure something like that; and whether it’s okay, something of your own To be expected of the family, “said Kurz.
But the challenge only made him stronger, said Kurz to thunderous applause and shouts of “Bravo”. In his appearance before party leader Kurz’s speech, parliamentary group leader August Wöginger also complained about the “blind hatred” with which the Chancellor and the ÖVP were being coated; the only topic of the opposition is: “Short has to go”.
Deviating votes are not envisaged
The main motion with political cornerstones, which provides for a “prohibition of Sharia”, social benefits linked to “successful integration” and an ecological policy without “car hostility and road bans”, had previously been waved through without dissenting votes and without any debate. Likewise, the election of Kurz’s deputies, for whom counter-proposals or dissenting votes were apparently not intended. There was no criticism of the government’s work in recent years, the mixed corona balance sheet, the handling of the public prosecutor’s investigations as a result of the Ibiza video, embarrassing chat messages from the inner circle of the government or the tough stance on migration policy.
Observers had speculated before the party congress that disappointed opponents of Kurz would express their anger when they cast their votes, but with the result, the New People’s Party under Kurz, which calls itself “Movement”, demonstrated enormous unity.