Babler on ORF

No self-doubt, but a surprising “sorry”

(Bild: APA/BARBARA GINDL)

Read Rainer Nowak's analysis of how SPÖ leader Andreas Babler fared in the penultimate ORF election duel on Monday evening - and what the biggest surprise of this rainy evening was.

Rain in the Salzkammergut is a classic. In the case of Andreas Babler, the unlucky man of the 2024 election campaign, sunshine and the accompanying sunset would have been a minor miracle.

SPÖ top candidate Babler has had to put up with a lot in recent weeks: Vienna's City Councillor for Health Peter Hacker found thousands of euros in social aid for Syrian refugee families normal, but not that these children would otherwise have to wear their siblings' clothes ("Middle Ages"). Then the mayor of Linz, Klaus Luger, had to resign due to lies and manipulation in the allocation of posts. As a highlight, the second President of the National Council and the most important woman in the party, Doris Bures, settled accounts with the origin and content of Babler's election program ("unseriousness"). An interview with Martin Thür on Lake Traun sounds like a wellness treatment. Inside, that is.