Anyone who expected the SP Presidium to bring order to the red chaos was disappointed. The SP presidium and the SP board are to meet once more next Monday to clarify open details. By then it should be clear how many candidates there will actually be, how many members can vote and how the hearings will proceed.
At least the timetable was agreed: the day following the Salzburg elections, on April 24th, the member survey begins. The first question will be whether Pamela Rendi-Wagner should remain SP leader and stand as the top candidate in the next election. Then the other candidates for the SP presidency are queried. You want to proceed hierarchically according to the function: Hans-Peter Doskozil should stand behind Rendi-Wagner as governor. So far, the deputy district party chairman of the SPÖ Alsergrund, Niki Kowall, has announced his candidacy. Two other men – one from Burgenland, one from Lower Austria – are said to have registered their applications for the presidency at the SP headquarters.
The nomination deadline for further candidacies was narrowly chosen this Friday. Anyone who is a member of the SP and has a position can apply for the presidency. In addition, the key date for having a say as a member was surprisingly set to March 24th. This means that new SP members can also have a say in decisions. In order to initiate a member survey as an SP member, for example, you have to be there for one year according to the statute.
The SPÖ currently has 140,000 members. For the survey, it remains to be seen how many neo-members will report by tomorrow. You should be able to vote electronically or by post.
The result of the survey should be available on May 10th. In a democracy, majorities would decide, and they would always be right, said Rendi-Wagner. The result of the member survey is personally binding for her, she said. “Whoever emerges as the strongest, that counts.” Actually, a run-off election would be necessary for a result in which no candidate achieved more than 50 percent.
Of course, the member survey does not finally solve who will take part in the special party conference on June 3rd. According to the statute, further candidacies are also possible there. Ex-Chancellor Christian Kern might then get in touch.
It has been clarified who will head the electoral commission that evaluates the results of the survey: It remains with Viennese SP veteran Harry Copytz. The Burgenland SPÖ had reservations regarding him, but since he was elected at the last party congress, he cannot simply be replaced. A notary will accompany the work of the commission.
The federal management is responsible for the organizational processing. On Monday it should be clarified how the hearings of the candidates will take place.
Although all resolutions were passed unanimously, Doskozil seemed unbalanced when he left. He was not 100 percent in agreement with the start date of the survey. He had to let the whole thing sink in, he said.
more on the subject
Michael Lindner: “You might tell that we were breaking new ground”
A “red economist” got the ball rolling
With his announcement that he would run once morest Pamela Rendi-Wagner and Hans Peter Doskozil, Nikolaus Kowall fueled the above-described discussion regarding the rules for grassroots democratic co-determination in the SPÖ. In itself, Kowall also hit the nerve of many officials who longed for an alternative candidate in the bickering between the two main players. The 40-year-old, who has a doctorate in economics, is an unknown quantity for most SP members. To date, he has not held any significant office within the SPÖ. Kowall gained regional fame as a left lateral thinker in Vienna as spokesman for “Section 8”. With his function as SP district vice chairman in Alsergrund, Kowall is now entitled to stand as a candidate in the member survey.
Two other – also less well-known – applicants are said to have already followed the example. So far, the SP leadership has only revealed that there are two men, one from Burgenland, the other from Lower Austria. The final number of candidates will be known by the deadline on Friday.
author
Annette Gantner
Editor of Domestic Policy
Annette Gantner
