Political events are happening rapidly in Stadl-Paura

After the newly founded FPÖ local party and its chairman Slobo Pupeter invited people to a press conference in the morning to once again shed light on the founding of the party and its circumstances, Mayor Christian Popp (Liste Popp, formerly FPÖ) went on the counteroffensive on Monday afternoon. “At the next local council meeting we want to reshuffle the committees. The Slobo issue will be dealt with straight away.” The planned expulsion from three committees is just the beginning for Pupeter. In order to create clarity, as Popp announced in an interview with the Welser Zeitung, the parliamentary group will vote on Pupeter’s exclusion at its next meeting.

• also read: Settlement in Stadl-Paura: Popp presents the new FP chairman with a choice

As reported, the new FP chairman is still a member of the political gathering pool headed by Popp, which declares itself to be non-partisan at the local level. However, the FPÖ has now announced that it wants to form its own parliamentary group in the local council after the 2027 election: “The ÖVP also continues to exist as its own local party. Unlike the FPÖ, its officials will vote for the Popp – Team for list in the election in three years Stadl-Paura can run for office,” Popp explains the difference to the Freedom Party.

“We only found out four days before the closing date”

One could only guess that Pupeter’s days in Popp’s faction were numbered during the morning press conference in the FP district party location. In 2021, the mayor of Stadlingen shut down the local FPÖ party on his own initiative, according to the story. When Pupeter, like other Freedom Party members, joined Popp’s list before the election, there was no talk of Popp and some officials dissolving the local FPÖ: “We only found out about the mayor’s plans four days before the closing date. “So there were no mandates for freedom-minded citizens to be elected,” says Stadlinger FP veteran Herwig Schropp. The 87-year-old also accuses Popp of age discrimination because he described him in the Welser Zeitung as Pupeter’s 90-year-old helper. The comment was derogatory. In his criticism, Popp went even further and accused the FP chairman of being spineless. Despite everything, a voluntary departure from Popp’s faction is out of the question for Pupeter: “I see myself continuing to serve on the committees and have also done good work. I played a key role in creating the park on the site of the old flax spinning mill.”

Popp cancels FP membership

Popp took a spectacular step more than a week ago: “I resigned from the FPÖ on April 8th, my birthday. Leaving the party felt like a liberation.” If this party runs for office in Stadl-Paura, it will be dissatisfied with him and his work, said Popp. The mayor has been “strange” with the Blues since Herbert Kickl was elected federal party chairman.