For a candidacy in the SPÖ member survey, you now have to submit declarations of support. However, by the age of 30, it has become relatively few. The board of directors passed a corresponding resolution on Monday with only three dissenting votes. There is no run-off if none of the candidates achieve an absolute majority.
The SPÖ welcomed around 9,000 new members to the party last week. According to a presidium resolution from the previous week, you can both stand as a candidate and vote. 73 applicants want to run for party chairmanship in the member survey. The committees discussed in detail the conditions under which the applicants would be admitted. Burgenland’s governor Hans Peter Doskozil then reported on a “very heated meeting”. SP boss Pamela Rendi-Wagner saw a “good, honest, long session”.
In the end, probably under pressure from most countries, it was decided that 30 declarations of support must also be submitted. In addition, the candidates must prove that the membership fee has been paid in full. Thoughts that were actually consensual to extend one year’s membership fee to all new members were ultimately rejected for technical reasons. There is a grace period until March 29 for those who announced their entry in good time but were not entered in time by the party organizations.
A form will be sent to applicants this week, on which they should fill in their CVs and the like, in what is essentially a profile for the members to be created on a website. For example, an extract from the criminal record and proof that you are entitled to vote in Austria are required. Fake candidates should be screened out immediately. In addition, there are 30 declarations of support from party members, “which can’t be difficult,” according to SP federal manager Christian Deutsch. Before the session, he had not considered such a hurdle necessary.
The ballot paper first asks whether Rendi-Wagner should remain party leader and become the top candidate. After that, the alternatives are listed, with Doskozil at the top. Voting can be done by post and online. For the former, the Post is to deliver the ballot papers at the beginning of the survey from April 24th. The possibility of electronic voting will be opened up by e-mail on the same day. Deutsch assured that anonymity was secured. The process is accompanied by the President of the Chamber of Notaries.
After the board meeting, which lasted more than five hours, Doskozil made it clear that he would only stand as a candidate at the party congress following the survey if he achieved first place among the members. He would advise the other candidates to do the same. Rendi-Wagner agreed a little later: “If I don’t finish first, I won’t compete.”
Next to the two, the most promising candidate is Traiskirchen Mayor Andreas Babler. A run-off election among the members is not planned. The final decision will be made at a party conference in early June.
