Shortly after failing to enter the Tyrolean state parliament, the MFG loses one of its central figures. The federal manager, federal finance officer and head of the regional group in Salzburg, Gerhard Pöttler, informed the party in a letter on Friday morning that he was leaving. He will resign from his position with immediate effect. The reason for the step may have been internal differences about the course of the vaccination-critical party.
“Don’t want to participate anymore”
“I have come to the conclusion that some of the people involved are no longer putting into practice what we promised our supporters. I can no longer and do not want to participate,” writes Pöttler. From his point of view, pandering to the existing system has already happened at MFG.
Specifically, the Salzburger cited a bill for coaching training for the three MFG members of the state parliament in Upper Austria in the amount of 28,800 euros for a total of 30 units. This is regulated and approved by law in the Party Financing Act. Morally, for him, in an MFG that wants to be “different”, it is not justifiable to pay almost 1,000 euros gross tax money for one unit per person, while many people can no longer afford the basic needs of everyday life.
“For me, the MFG was a party of hope. But the bill from Upper Austria shows – as just one of many examples – that the party is no different than other parties,” said Pöttler in an interview with the APA. On the way away from a “one-topic party” towards new topics on which the party has to position itself clearly, what is needed is a critical examination of the values that were worked out when it was founded. “Perhaps my exit is the starting signal for MFG to start a reflection process.”
But he didn’t want to wash dirty laundry or attack anyone personally, said Pöttler in the APA interview and thanked his colleagues. The missed entry into the Tyrolean state parliament last weekend was not a reason for the resignation. He ruled out a return to politics almost two years after the founding of the Salzburg state organization.
MFG federal party chairman and presidential candidate Michael Brunner announced a statement to the APA on Friday morning. The MFG state parliament club in Upper Austria was initially unavailable. It is unclear what Pöttler’s departure means for MFG six months before the Salzburg state elections on April 23, 2023. In a press conference in mid-August, the outgoing state party leader emphasized that, according to a poll he conducted himself, eleven percent of those questioned would vote for the MFG.