“I’m not going to run myself,” he said. Because he believes that the office of a federal party chairman and club chairman is not compatible with conducting a presidential election campaign. The FPÖ will present the blue candidate once the election date has been set, Kickl said.
At the FPÖ committee meetings held the day before, the presidential election was “of course” also discussed, Kickl said at a press conference on Wednesday. However, it was clear from the outset that no decision would be made on this question. The topic was not even on the agenda, the FPÖ chairman repeated the statements he made the day before. The expectations were only fueled by the media, he said.
Video: Statement by Kickl
Regarding his (recent) determination that he himself will not enter the ring for the highest office in the state, the FPÖ boss said: “Anyone who wants big things has to limit themselves.” He is concerned with bringing the FPÖ towards 25 percent and achieving a strong national election result.
Kickl once again left no doubt that the FPÖ will field a presidential candidate: “It’s no secret that the governing bodies of the FPÖ agree with me that it’s almost a patriotic duty to support the sleepy system candidate Alexander Van to counter the barking with a vital representative”, he criticized the incumbent at the same time. He only gives Van der Bellen one right: “That it won’t be a mowed Wies’n.”
Q&A after the press conference:
The day before, at the meetings of the party executive and leadership, the FPÖ also stated that there were “several personalities” for a blue candidacy. “I will not name any names beyond the names that have already become known anyway,” said Kickl. Constitutional spokeswoman Susanne Fürst is the favourite. In any case, all the people in question are “made of a different cloth than Van der Bellen” – because they would know, for example, “that the Austrian citizenship is not a junk item that you can squander,” says Kickl.
“But the time is not yet ripe for us to present you with a candidate,” said Kickl. “It’s not about being first on the field, it’s about coming out on top at the end.” The “crucial question” regarding the blue decision for a candidate is the election date. He expects the government to clarify when that will be. The suspicion arises “that this is the next set game – because the more you shorten the lead time, the more it benefits the incumbent”. In any case, the FPÖ will make a candidate decision “in the near temporal relationship” to the announcement of the election date, said Kickl.
Kickl rejected a report in the daily newspaper “Österreich”, according to which the FPÖ would like to send the columnist of the “Kronen Zeitung”, Tassilo Walentin, into the race for the Hofburg. This is not “breaking news” but “breaking cuddling,” he said.
Source: Nachrichten
