SPÖ party conference

Ludwig: “Party conference will go down in history”

An election result that allows Andreas Babler to breathe a short sigh of relief.(Bild: Imre Antal)

A party conference between solidarity and criticism – and in the end, Andreas Babler was able to breathe a sigh of relief: with a respectable 81.5 percent, he was re-elected as SPÖ party leader. Although the Vice-Chancellor was the only candidate standing for election, the pressure in the run-up to the vote had been high. In his speech that morning, Babler still fought emotionally for votes... Read about the party conference. 

Memories of the Excel dilemma at the battle party conference were reawakened when the announcement of Babler's election result was massively delayed. It was not until after 5 p.m. that the official figure was announced: 81.51 percent. Although this was a decrease from the last time – at the previous party conference in Graz, he had won around 88.8 percent – it was still well above the "Rendi mark" of 75.3 percent.

The result is neither a strengthening nor a weakening
The result is likely to silence the critical voices within the party, at least for the time being. This is also because all members of the party executive committee were clearly confirmed with over 90 percent. Babler himself was the only representative in the committee elections to receive a result well below 90 percent.

All candidates on the executive committee exceeded this mark, while only treasurer Christoph Matznetter fell short of it in the presidium with 88.6 percent. Tyrolean state chairman Philip Wohlgemuth scored particularly well with 98.8 percent, as did government coordinator Michaela Schmidt with 98.5 percent. Babler's "opponent," Berthold Felber from Burgenland, received a total of three votes.

Emotional election appeal
Almost on time, shortly after 10:30 p.m., the Vice-Chancellor began his speech with a tribute to the power of women, a look at the crisis region of Iran, and thanks to Peter Kaiser, for whom it was his last party conference as governor. Then he became emotional – and launched attacks against Kickl, Trump, and his own coalition partner, the ÖVP. "Let's go out united, let's strengthen ourselves," he pleaded for approval.

The party conference had been opened earlier with a speech by the powerful Mayor of Vienna, Michael Ludwig. "Everyone can learn from this example," he said, showering praise on the new, old women's chairwoman Eva-Maria Holzleitner for her re-election on Friday with 98.92 percent of the vote. This was possibly a hidden hint to the delegates for the election of the party leader – which many ultimately took on board.

Read about the events and reactions here:

Solidarity effect after Kern's maneuver?
"It won't help," was a phrase heard frequently in the run-up to the SPÖ party conference when talking to Social Democrats about the starting position and their voting behavior. After achieving the worst party result in history and even worse polls within his own ranks, Vice-Chancellor Babler is now only tolerated, but he remains the only real candidate.

Former Chancellor Kern admitted to considering taking over, but decided against running, despite already having held talks with Head of State Alexander Van der Bellen. This maneuver did not please Babler's critics and is now likely to lead to a kind of solidarity effect at the party conference.

Many party members predicted a solid result in the 80 percent range for their party leader in the run-up to the election. "It's sad enough that there is no one else. An opposing candidate would have been good for democracy and would have led to a clear decision," a senior member of the party told the Krone newspaper.