Image: APA/Roland Schlager
The first rejection of the coalition that Hans Peter Doskozil made after his election at the party conference went unchallenged: “If we win the election, there will be no coalition with the FPÖ,” he promised. The FPÖ has divided the population, whether on the issue of asylum or the corona issue: “That’s not possible,” said Doskozil.
But Doskozil was not only rejected by the FPÖ: “I also want to tackle that,” he continued: “No coalition with the ÖVP.” He had experienced this in Burgenland and in the federal government. The ÖVP is “always only interested in maintaining power with all the tricks”. “We will no longer open the door for them.” The SPÖ must become so strong that a three-party coalition with the Greens and Neos can be formed.
This rejection did not meet with unanimous approval. Doskozil “suggested it this way. We’ll see what happens next,” said Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig in an interview with Puls 24. He himself was always clearly in favor of excluding a coalition with the FPÖ. “Further exclusions” he would not make, “because no one can estimate how many parties will be in the National Council and which majorities will come out mathematically. So I wouldn’t rule out too much.”
A “question of interpretation”
In Upper Austria, too, where both Linz Mayor Klaus Luger and state party leader Michael Lindner expressed their relief at Doskozil’s election victory, there was reluctance to reject a coalition with the ÖVP.
Luger saw the no to the ÖVP in the OÖN conversation as a “rejection in stages”. He interprets it as “that Doskozil has explicitly only excluded the FPÖ – and that his first variant is a coalition with the Greens and Neos. But I’m convinced that if that doesn’t work out mathematically, then there may also be an option with the ÖVP,” said Luger.
Similarly, SP state party leader Michael Lindner interprets the rejection of the ÖVP: “I did not understand that as a definitive exclusion,” he said in the OÖN interview. “We want to change Austria fundamentally, and for this we need opportunities for other coalitions.” The traffic light is Doskozil’s goal, “but of course the ÖVP is still a possible government partner if it is willing to prove new government ability”.
SP women support rejection
Meanwhile, Doskozil’s rejection of the ÖVP is welcomed by SP Federal Women’s Chief Eva-Maria Holzleitner. In view of the women’s political positions that the two parties represent in the coalitions in Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Salzburg, she sees “no points of overlap,” she said on the ORF program “Hohes Haus”. Therefore, she can understand and support this announcement.
Source: Nachrichten
