The fight for the SPÖ party leadership is in full swing. While the Burgenland governor Hans Peter Doskozil wants to overthrow the current SPÖ boss, Pamela Rendi-Wagner has other plans. “We have to win back the voters’ trust together,” she said in the ZiB2 interview with moderator Martin Thür. However, if there was a defeat against Doskozil, “I would probably leave politics,” she added.
Rendi-Wagner does not see the “profound differences of opinion” that Doskozil mentioned in his letter to the committees. “I do not see the differences mentioned by Doskozil. That would be easy to sort out,” she said. However, emphasizes: “One big difference, however, is that I will certainly not form a coalition with the FPÖ. I do not support this inhuman and inflammatory policy”. She emphasized Gottfried Waldhäusl’s “Vienna would still be Vienna” saying. “Doskozil just doesn’t want to form a coalition with Kickl, I won’t do that with the FPÖ in general,” said Rendi-Wagner.
The already tense relationship between the two SPÖ politicians will be expanded by a chapter with Doskozil’s candidacy. And there it is already 1:0 for Doskozil. The Presidium decided on Wednesday that a member survey – as Doskozil wished – would be carried out and then an extraordinary party conference would be held. With the TV interview, Rendi-Wagner is apparently trying to equalize. Whether she succeeds remains to be seen.
However, one thing is certain: the unrest caused by the current power struggle has been damaging the party so far. In the Sunday question, the SPÖ loses two percent at the Lazarsfeld Society for “Austria”. In a National Council election next Sunday, the SPÖ would only get 22 percent. This puts the party in third place.