Goal: third mandate

KPÖ launches election campaign: support from Elke Kahr

Elke Kahr (right) supported Claudia Klimt-Weithaler at the KPÖ's election campaign rally(Bild: KPÖ Steiermark)

The Styrian Communist Party (KPÖ) presented its election program and the first posters for the state election campaign in Graz on Wednesday. Lead candidate Claudia Klimt-Weithaler, with the support of Graz Mayor Elke Kahr, will focus primarily on the issues of affordable housing, care and health as well as elementary education. 

The KPÖ had already outlined the Styrian core issues in a presentation at the beginning of September - in the middle of the national election campaign. Klimt-Weithaler reiterated these at the press conference, which is also the official campaign kick-off for the state elections on November 24: the main issue is - "no na ned" - affordable housing, said the party leader.

Kahr, who is expected to win the basic mandate in constituency 1 (Graz/Graz-Umgebung) needed to remain in parliament with the mayoral bonus, referred to the achievements of the communists in recent decades. For example, the substandard in municipal housing had been brought to an end, and there had also been a fight to ensure that municipal housing was not outsourced by the city of Graz. "Housing is not a commodity," is Kahr's guiding principle.

The KPÖ poster is tailored to Claudia Klimt-Weithaler.(Bild: KPÖ Steiermark)

"Dead horse that continues to be ridden"
In the area of health and care, Klimt-Weithaler criticized the fact that the discussion about the Leispital in the Liezen district, for example, was not very concrete, but rather "hätt i, tät i, war i". She considers the planned hospital in Stainach-Pürgg to be a "dead horse that will continue to be ridden". In any case, the KPÖ wants to stop a clear-cutting of the hospitals and is committed to a better staffing ratio in the nursing and healthcare sector, among other things.

The KPÖ top candidate does not see a duel situation between the ÖVP and FPÖ, as proclaimed by Governor Christopher Drexler (ÖVP) after the National Council elections: "People don't vote for the first, but for who they feel is best represented."

"We have come to stay"
Back in September, Klimt-Weithaler's election goal was growth - in other words, at least three seats instead of the previous two. She is not worried about falling out of parliament. "We were not far away from a basic mandate in Upper Styria recently," she says, looking ahead to the elections.

The KPÖ received just under six percent of the vote in the 2019 provincial elections, an increase of almost 1.8 percentage points. The communists have been represented in the Styrian state parliament since 2005 - in no other federal state are the dark reds still in the state parliament. "At the time, many thought it would be a brief appearance," says Klimt-Weithaler, "but we have now been in parliament for 19 years and we have come to stay."