On Wednesday, Binder confirmed to the APA that the “Standard” had conducted research on the matter. This should not be made public, but he stands by it, said the confidant of Linz Mayor Klaus Luger, who resigned after the Brucknerhaus scandal. “But I accept the decision and stand behind it, that’s how it is in a democracy,” stressed Binder.
He announced that he would take part in the SPÖ’s election campaign launch in Linz on Thursday. In addition, he is trying – with Linz’s top candidate Roland Baumann – “to make a positive contribution to the overall result”. The representative of the Linz SPÖ, which had backed Luger in the Brucknerhaus scandal, denied to the “Standard” that his voting behavior could have had anything to do with party leader Andreas Babler’s call for the Linz mayor to resign: “Basically, I am convinced that the board members vote to the best of their knowledge and belief and on the basis of a substantive and/or strategic assessment, not on the basis of personal sensitivities. That is how I see it, anyway,” he stressed.
“A single dissenting voice”
SPÖ leader Andreas Babler reported on Monday in the ORF “Summer Talk” that there was a single dissenting vote in the 58-member party executive. The Social Democratic election program was approved by the federal party executive on the same day in a circular resolution. The program, which had been revised after several rounds of feedback in the presidium and party executive, was sent to the members of the party executive shortly before 11 a.m. Some members used the opportunity to give their indirect consent by letting the 5 p.m. deadline pass, as Burgenland parliamentary group leader Roland Fürst had already explained on Tuesday.
