There was no opposing candidate in the election of the party chairman, which must be elected every three years according to the statutes, in the Meinl-Rösthalle in Vienna-Ottakring. In 2021, the 46-year-old received 92.9 percent of the delegates’ votes. “I have so much desire, so much energy for the next few months,” the newly elected party leader said, preparing the party for the National Council election campaign.
Meinl-Reisinger had already been chosen as the top candidate for the National Council election on April 20th at a members’ meeting in Graz with 93.4 percent of the vote. The party leader used the speech following her re-election in Vienna to motivate the Pink Party for the election on September 29th. In any case, they will not simply be satisfied with being a small junior partner. “We didn’t have to form ourselves for that.”
In her speech, she did not hold back on criticism of her political rivals. The red line is known to be the FPÖ – “the Öxit instigators” – but they are not the only ones. “A red line for us is to introduce even more taxes.” She was addressing this primarily to the Social Democrats, who “always just want more taxes.”
Criticism of government
As expected, there was no praise for the government parties either. “It’s the worst of both worlds,” said Meinl-Reisinger. The only reason the black-green government still exists is “so that they can fill positions so that they can get their money’s worth.” The “hostility to performance” is a major problem that the government has not solved, said Meinl-Reisinger, turning her attention to a pink core issue, lower taxes. She also wanted to “appeal to the conscience of the union. It’s no use telling employees that we fought for you anyway if they then have to pay over 40 percent in taxes.”
Party funding should be “reduced” and “replaced by real media funding.” If NEOS had not been founded over ten years ago, Meinl-Reisinger would do it today, she told the party members: “Without us, nothing will change, Austria needs NEOS more than ever.”
The Vienna deputy mayor Christoph Wiederkehr was elected as Meinl-Reisinger’s deputy with 88 percent and Claudia Gamon from Vorarlberg with 79 percent. Markus Hofer was elected as finance officer, his deputy is Sepp Schellhorn, neither of whom had any opponents. The board is completed by National Council member Yannick Shetty and either Sophie Wotschke or Arlette Zakarian, who will face a runoff election following a short lunch break. Stephan Mittelbach was eliminated in the first round of voting for a seat on the board. The extended board will also be elected today.
