After an internal dispute

Chamber of Commerce election: Herk wants to know again

Josef Herk wants to give it another go in 2025 and is running for the leadership of the Wirtschaftsbund again. Internal critics have not achieved their goal.(Bild: Ripix/Richard Großschädl)

The Styrian Chamber of Commerce will elect a new representative body in March 2025. Despite turbulence and internal criticism, the incumbent president Josef Herk (ÖVP) is running again as the top candidate.

The election marathon in Styria also continues outside of big politics: a new Chamber of Commerce parliament will be elected in March 2025. And the business vote is casting its first shadows: a streetcar with Wirtschaftsbund advertising and a large portrait of Josef Herk has been running in Graz for a few days now.

The current President of the Chamber of Commerce is once again running as a "black" top candidate. This is remarkable in that the man from Knittelfeld has had some turbulent years behind him. Two years ago, a "salary scandal" triggered by insiders came to a head (not all of Herk's income had been disclosed transparently up to that point), and last year, Vinzenz Harrer, an important ÖVP functionary, called for more "rough edges" and a personnel renewal.

Economically challenging times
However, Herk, who will turn 65 next year, defied the internal critics and was unanimously chosen as the top candidate by the extended provincial leadership in the spring. Since then, there have been no "leaks" with explosive content to the public.

The main topic for the next few years? "Performance must be worthwhile", Herk told "Krone". In economically tense times, he will not be bored, even the major construction projects on the Graz Chamber site are still ongoing. In the 2020 election, the Wirtschaftsbund achieved 71 percent of the vote.