Kickl officially succeeds Norbert Hofer. At the beginning of June, Hofer threw his hat on after long personal debates, referring to Kickl’s criticism of himself. At the extraordinary party conference in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria’s regional party leader Udo Landbauer will be the new deputy chairman. Hofer showed himself to be reconcilable at parting.
Before the start of the party congress, there was nothing to indicate major disagreements among the delegates who gradually poured into the Arena Nova. At least outwardly, the support for Kickl was emphasized. Brass music created a good atmosphere. There was cheer when the FP party leadership, already led by Kickl, moved in with Hofer. The 760 delegates were greeted by “hosts” farmers. The fact that journalists were only allowed to sit in the stands and were not allowed to enter the actual assembly room caused slight displeasure among the media representatives.
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Hofer himself was reconciled one more time in his speech. In contrast to earlier changes of chairman in the FP, he is now handing over the party leadership in friendship and strength, he said in his speech and in the direction of his successor Kickl: “You have my vote, you have my support!” He himself, Hofer, brought the “ship” FP – after its captain Heinz-Christian Strache “was flushed from the bridge” – back to a safe harbor. Kickl will lead this out again.
Kickl’s biggest internal critic, Upper Austria’s regional party chairman Manfred Haimbuchner, thanked Hofer for his honest friendship and made it immediately clear: “I will continue to express my opinion in the committees. Because if two people always agree, one is superfluous.” Nevertheless, he wished Kickl a lot of strength and said in the direction of the new chairman: “Dear Herbert, you will feel the solidarity. You will also feel the strength of my national group.”
One of Kickl’s opponents made no secret of his rejection in a spontaneous speech at the party congress: Karl Wurzer, deputy state party leader in Lower Austria, officially announced that he would vote against the new leadership. For this there were boos from many delegates, which is why Secretary General Michael Schnedlitz first had to calm down. The free word is what distinguishes the FP, he appealed to the plenary.
The extraordinary party congress of the Freedom Party should only last a short time on Saturday, as nothing else was on the agenda besides Kickl and Landbauer’s election as the new deputy. However, the managing party leader Stefan announced another – ordinary – party congress for the coming year, at which all other pending issues will be dealt with in detail.
The replacement of Hofer by Kickl did not meet with unanimous approval in the party, but there was not much public criticism. The Upper Austrian Manfred Haimbuchner had placed himself behind Hofer in the struggle for the top, but in the election year he also had little interest in headlines about internal party disputes.
If Kickl measures himself against his predecessor Heinz-Christian Strache, the bar for his Kr by the 760 delegates is high: In his last election in 2017, the long-term party leader, who stumbled over the Ibiza video, received 98.7 percent approval. Hofer achieved almost as much in 2019, namely 98.3 percent. If the result is poor, Kickl can refer to Jrg Haider’s first choice: He took over the Freedom Party in 1986 with 57.7 percent – but in a vote against the incumbent party leader Norbert Steger.
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