FPÖ chairman Herbert Kickl reportedly wants to send Walter Rosenkranz into the federal presidential election. This was confirmed by party circles during the current presidium meeting on Tuesday evening. Kickls According to reports, the proposal caused lengthy discussions in the Presidium. The blue candidate is to be officially presented at a press conference on Wednesday at 1.30 p.m. in the DC Tower in Vienna – nachrichten.at will report.
It is surprising that Rosencrantz is now to become a candidate. Many names had been mentioned in the past few weeks, his was not among them. The Lower Austrian was a member of the National Council for many years and was a free club chairman in the turquoise-blue times. The lawyer has been an Ombudsman since July 2019.
Originally, the member of the National Council, Susanne Fürst, was rumored to be the favourite, but she is said to have hesitated until the end. Petra Steger, daughter of the liberal veteran Norbert Steger, was also rumored. But a number of liberals also doubt that for various reasons. And even “Krone” columnist and lawyer Tassilo Wallentin was in conversation. According to the daily newspaper “Österreich”, this is said to have already been cancelled.
Official presentation on Wednesday
The challenger to incumbent Alexander Van der Bellen will not be officially presented until Wednesday. Until the very end, party leader Herbert Kickl kept his decision, which he will submit to the party presidency, top secret and thus kept the topic simmering. According to reports, even the liberal country leaders only speculated until the end who it could be.
It shouldn’t be easy for the candidate anyway. For one thing, Van der Bellen is firmly in the saddle. On the other hand, at least two other candidates want to run whose program is similar in content to the liberal standpoints: For example, the former BZÖ politician Gerald Grosz railed against corona measures and sanctions against Russia, as does the head of the MFG list critical of vaccinations, Michael Brunner.
Source: Nachrichten
