With his own list

SPÖ veteran wants to make his mark in the election

Anton Plessl wants to get involved in local politics in Perchtoldsdorf even without the SPÖ.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg/Plessl Patrick Huber)

A big bang in Perchtoldsdorf: after 55 years in the party, Anton Plessl is standing in the municipal elections on 26 January with his own "generational list".

Anton Plessl was first elected to the municipal council of Perchtoldsdorf, the well-known wine tavern town in the district of Mödling, in 1970. Five and a half decades later, the Social Democrat has no intention of putting an end to his political career. On the contrary: he wants to bring it to an end with a call sign in the next five years. Plessl is running for a seat again - but no longer in the ranks of the SPÖ, but with his own list: the "Movement of Generations".

Debate about ban on candidacy
The fact that the red parliamentary group "dismantled him bit by bit" hit the now 83-year-old hard. After all, he is an SPÖ veteran in Perchtoldsdorf, former deputy mayor and honorary party chairman. "The fact that there were even calls to ban people over the age of 70 from running for office reinforced my decision," says Plessl.

Of course I will not change my mind. That's why I will remain closely associated with social and humane ideas in the future.

Anton Plessl, Gründer der „Bewegung der Generationen“

No party resignation
By campaigning for a nursing home in the village and for more support for senior citizens in coping with digitalization, Plessl primarily wants to be the mouthpiece of his generation in local politics. But not only that. His demands for a public transport alternative for fellow citizens without a car and the recultivation of the quarry at Tirolerhof after the end of mining also affect younger people. Plessl does not want to leave the SPÖ: "I will always be a social democrat at heart."