On Saturday, the SPÖ Burgenland re-elected Governor Hans Peter Doskozil as their state party leader with 97.8 percent. In 2018 it was 98.4 percent. In a one-hour speech beforehand, Doskozil had announced, among other things, a ban on party donations, an upper limit for spending during the election campaign and a ban on election posters. He called for an open discussion from federal party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner: “We have to go where it hurts.”
Politics is committed to people, not offices or corporations, said the governor. “It must never go so far that politics gives the appearance of being dependent in any way.” Parties have enough resources at their disposal. “We don’t need a single cent in donations from any large corporations,” emphasized Doskozil. Expenditure in the election campaign for state elections should be limited by law to 300,000 euros. As far as legally possible, posters should be banned from the landscape. “We have five years to make the best election advertising for ourselves with what we do and what we do,” said the governor.
Doskozil also announced new measures in the field of education. For example, remedial classes and tutoring for those who need it should be made available by the public sector. Every elementary school child in the second grade should get an instrument and every second grade lower school or middle school student should get a pair of skis.
Doskozil thanked Rendi-Wagner for coming to the party conference in Burgenland. He asked the party leader for an open discussion process, which was also necessary because of the “signs of wear and tear” in the SPÖ. In this context, Doskozil saw himself as a football player who serves his team best “when he knows the limits and when he goes where it hurts”. This is the only way to succeed in providing the Federal Chancellor again in the future.
Politics is about credibility and trust, said Doskozil. He highlighted the minimum wage of 1,700 euros net, care, renewable energies and the price increases as a result of the Ukraine war as central topics. For example, the construction of a so-called electrolyser is planned.
With the entry, in which Doskozil was flanked by his government team, the Burgenland SPÖ leadership and the 171 top candidates for the mayoral and municipal elections on October 2nd, the SPÖ also got in the mood for the upcoming election campaign for the local elections. At the opening, Doskozil, his team and the top candidates let red balloons rise to the ceiling of the Oberwart exhibition center – and the around 1,700 officials celebrated to music by Tim Bendzko and Seiler und Speer. As guests of honour, they welcomed Rendi-Wagner, former Federal Chancellor Christian Kern, former Vice-Chancellor Hannes Androsch (both SPÖ) and ex-Federal Managing Director Max Lercher.
Doskozil was elected state party chairman in Oberwart for the second time after 2018, when he succeeded Hans Niessl with 98.4 percent of the vote. In addition, his deputies – increased from four to seven – are elected. Astrid Eisenkopf, deputy governor, and Verena Dunst, president of the state parliament, will remain in office, as well as state councilors Heinrich Dorner and Leonhard Schneemann, state councilor Daniela Winkler and the two state parliamentarians Dieter Posch and Ewald Schnecker.
