After the election: SPÖ in Styria is looking for new paths and coalition partners

After the election: SPÖ in Styria is looking for new paths and coalition partners

After the latest state election, the SPÖ is under pressure in Styria. The result of the election was even worse than the historically poor result of 2019. This triggered concern in the ranks of the Styrian Social Democrats, which will also be discussed at the state party executive next Monday. The central question remains how the leadership of the party continues and whether a coalition is considered.

The mayor of Leoben, Kurt Wallner, was optimistic after the SPÖ was able to gain almost three percentage points. He sees three possible ways for the party: The SPÖ could either coalize the election winner with which election losers enter into a collaboration or choose the opposition. Wallner also expressed the desire to have talks with the FPÖ. In his opinion, this could be possible, since the voters of the FPÖ primarily punished the ÖVP and the Greens for their government.

discussion about the party leader

In the discussion about the future leadership of the SPÖ, there are different opinions. Klaus-Emmerich Herzmaier, Mayor of Trieben, spoke out for Anton Lang as party leader, although the SPÖ has lost more than 20 percentage points in drives. Herzmaier emphasized that Lang "provided handshake quality". This is supported by Ingo Reisinger, the mayor of Weiz, who has also had positive experiences with long.

In contrast, Reisinger expressed his skepticism about a coalition with the FPÖ. While he sees conversations as a possibility, he doubts that an agreement can be realistically implemented. The party executive will turn to these topics on Monday and discuss the options for the future of the SPÖ. This meeting could be crucial for the strategic decisions the party makes. The guidelines for the future policy of Styrian Social Democrats are still unclear what should lead to intensive debates within the party.

The elections have impressively showed that the political landscape weakened. Against the background of the election results, the SPÖ will now have to reposition itself in order to gain stronger influence in the politics of Styria. More details on this topic can be found in a detailed report on styria.orf .