At an extraordinary federal party conference in Graz, Nehammer will face the election on Saturday afternoon. His predecessor Sebastian Kurz will also be there, but not his opponent Reinhold Mitterlehner. Before the election, Nehammer will give a speech of around half an hour. “Of course, an important part of my speech will be aimed at the party, its officials and members. The People’s Party is going through a difficult phase,” Nehammer himself admitted in the “Kleine Zeitung” (Friday edition). “It’s also about regaining the trust that has been lost to a certain extent.” The other part is “about the big issues that concern everyone in our country: crisis, war, pandemic, energy costs, inflation”.
Nehammer will open the almost three-hour party conference in Graz’s Helmut-List-Halle, a former industrial building, at 1.30 p.m., and the Styrian “host”, Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer, will also speak. After a few statutory points such as the financial report, Secretary General Laura Sachslehner will speak, club boss August Wöginger will also give a short speech.
In between, Nehammer’s predecessor Sebastian Kurz is interviewed on stage by the presenter. His appearance at the party conference caused a stir in advance. Of course, he recently ruled out a political comeback “forever”. Against Kurz is determined, among other things, in the advertisement affair. The party said that, as usual, all former party leaders were invited. Josef Proell, Wilhelm Molterer, Wolfgang Bowl and Josef Riegler have also announced themselves. Mitterlehner announced in the media, without giving reasons, that he would not be coming to Graz – but it can be assumed that this has to do with the bad relationship with Kurz.
There are gaps in staff to fill
A close confidant of Kurz had really shaken the party conference leadership this week: Elisabeth Köstinger resigned as Minister of Agriculture on Monday, surprising not only the public but also her own party leader. Economics Minister Margarete Schramböck also had to say goodbye on the same day, also a Turkish invention. So a few days before his election as chairman, Nehammer was forced to hurry to fill gaps in personnel instead of practicing his speech.
Even before that, things hadn’t really gone well for Nehammer: the ÖVP has fallen in the opinion polls in recent months and is currently behind or on a par with the SPÖ. The Corruption U Committee and the Vorarlberg business association affair have been making negative headlines for weeks, Nehammer himself was also criticized for his trip to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the affair about drunken Cobra bodyguards.
Experts such as political advisor Thomas Hofer still expect a good result for Nehammer from the party’s point of view, because all officials are aware that the new chairman must not be damaged. Nehammer himself has so far only whimsically stated that “everything that is better than the party conference result for Pamela Rendi-Wagner” would be a “success” as the goal for his election as chairman. The SPÖ leader had to be content with 75.3 percent.
In any case, the chances are not that bad, as after his speech the officials each receive a ballot paper with only one name on it: Karl Nehammer. And standing ovations are almost certain for the ÖVP boss – this is guaranteed by the fact that the “classic cinema seating” in the hall is replaced by standing tables especially for the announcement of the results.
Source: Nachrichten
