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🇦🇹 Austria /Elections & Politics

‘I already consider 15 percent a minor-party result’: Carinthia’s SPÖ governor turns up pressure on Babler

From Die Presse · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Ongoing story
  • Carinthian Governor Daniel Fellner increased pressure on Austria’s Social Democratic Party leadership over polling that placed the party at about 15 percent.
  • Fellner said Andreas Babler remained the party chairman, but the candidate who would lead the SPÖ into the next national election had not been decided.
  • He said a continued 15 percent polling result as the election approached would represent a deadline for the party.

Carinthian Governor Daniel Fellner has sharpened his criticism of Austria’s Social Democratic Party after weak polling left the SPÖ at around 15 percent.

I already consider 15 percent a minor-party result.

— Daniel FellnerThe Carinthian governor criticized the SPÖ’s polling performance.

“I already consider 15 percent a minor-party result,” Fellner said during an ORF Kärnten summer interview. He said the figures made him “very, very sad,” and added that he felt the concern he experienced was not shared to the same extent by the party’s federal leadership.

Asked whether Andreas Babler was the right person to lead the party, Fellner replied: “He is now our party chairman, everything else will be clarified within the party.” Fellner said he did not know what replacing the party leader would achieve, arguing that the problem was broader and needed to be addressed more widely.

very, very sad

— Daniel FellnerFellner described his reaction to the party’s weak polling.

The identity of the SPÖ’s lead candidate for the next National Council election remained open, he said. “Maybe it is Andreas Babler, maybe it is someone else,” Fellner said.

He is now our party chairman, everything else will be clarified within the party.

— Daniel FellnerFellner responded to a question about whether Andreas Babler should remain party leader.

If polls still showed the SPÖ at 15 percent when the national election was approaching, Fellner said that would be his “deadline.”

Maybe it is Andreas Babler, maybe it is someone else.

— Daniel FellnerFellner said the SPÖ’s next lead candidate had not been decided.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Presse in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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