"Krone" analysis

Fateful days for election losers Drexler and Lang

Election winner Mario Kunasek (center) has opted for government negotiations with the ÖVP. Now it remains to be seen how things will continue with the (still) party leaders Christopher Drexler (left) and Anton Lang.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz, Sepp Pail)

After Mario Kunasek's decision to negotiate with the ÖVP, the SPÖ leader's days are numbered. The still provincial governor as deputy?

Mario Kunasek - he is the blue man of the hour, the strong blue man. No other member of the Freedom Party is sitting on such a large cushion of votes as the winner of the regional elections.

What distinguishes the trained mechanic and later non-commissioned officer, who suffered a defeat as the top candidate in the 2019 state election in the Ibiza headwind, is also his calm and composure. He also knows what it feels like to lose.

From the intensive rounds of negotiations with the ÖVP and SPÖ over the past few days, you can hear that he always stays grounded and never humiliates anyone. Probably also in the knowledge that his interlocutors Christopher Drexler and Anton Lang have been humiliated enough by their defeats.

It was clear to both Drexler and Lang that their days as party leaders were numbered if they were not chosen as Kunasek's government partner.

While the 65-year-old Lang's departure is now probably imminent, Drexler is still in the running. At least for the duration of the government negotiations. For this, and ONLY this, is why his party placed its trust in him the day after the disastrous election.

Drexler's fate will now be determined over the next two weeks: Does he even want to be deputy governor in the next government? And does the ÖVP want that?