Einwallner as another Doskozil supporter

This also explains why it is primarily former leaders or representatives from the second row who support one of the applicants. However, there are familiar faces in every team, most prominently those in the team of the incumbent.

Pamela Rendi-Wagner did not call up any of the proponents’ committees, but when submitting the declarations of support she relied entirely on the women’s card. The 100 supporters include a number of well-known names, led by the second President of the National Council Doris Bures, Chamber of Labor boss Renate Anderl and the women’s chair Eva Maria Holzleitner.

Former party figures such as state secretary, city councilor and Siemens manager Brigitte Ederer, former education and culture minister Hilde Hawlicek or ex-education minister Sonja Hammerschmid also stand up for Rendi-Wagner, as does Margit Fischer, wife of former Federal President Heinz Fischer, who incidentally at best indirectly (“team loyalty”) for the incumbent.

She managed the biggest coup on Thursday, when the former chancellors Franz Vranitzky, Viktor Klima, Alfred Gusenbauer and Werner Faymann appealed to the members to support Rendi-Wagner.

Vienna’s former mayor, Michael Häupl, even agreed to do a joint interview. His successor, Michael Ludwig, is considered Rendi-Wagner’s most important supporter alongside Bures. Upper Austrian trade unionists such as FSG boss Rainer Wimmer or ex-Health Minister Alois Stöger are also aggressively campaigning for the chair. What is striking, however, is that of the state chairmen, only the leader of the small Vorarlberg state party, Gabriele Sprickler-Falschlunger, supports Rendi-Wagner.

Of course, there is only limited open affection from the state leaders for the other candidates. In the case of Salzburg’s state chairman, David Egger, at least one knows that he has close political ties with Doskozil. The other representatives of the new Westbahn axis – i.e. Georg Dornauer (Tyrol), Michael Lindner (Upper Austria) and Sven Hergovich (Lower Austria) – are also located in the Doskozils camp, but do not say so. Ultimately, outside of Burgenland, the mayor of Linz, Klaus Luger, is the governor’s most important supporter. A number of other mayors of larger communities such as Leoben (Kurt Wallner) or Schwechat (Karin Baier) also want to see Doskozil at the head of the SPÖ.

Essential for his campaign is its organization by the former federal manager Max Lercher, who is very well networked in the party. The same applies to MP Andreas Kollross, who is also more on the left. Like Rendi-Wagner, Doskozil also has a number of other supporters in the SPÖ club, but Petra Tanzler and Melanie Erasim were of less help in connection with the speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj to the National Council. Reinhold Einwallner, the only member of the SPÖ National Council in Vorarlberg, “outed” himself as a Doskozil supporter on Friday.

After all, Doskozil has brought prominent former representatives from the union, such as the long-standing Upper Austrian AK President Johann Kalliauer, to his side. From the guard of the former leaders in the Doskozil camp, the former Minister of the Interior Karl Schlögl and ex-club boss Josef Cap should also be mentioned.

Andreas Babler presents himself as the candidate of the base. But he then gathered a few well-known names around him, including the mayor of Bregenz Michael Ritsch and the red hope for the future, environmental spokeswoman Julia Herr. They were joined by the Socialist Youth and the student organization VSStÖ. The seniors are represented by their red chairmen in Lower and Upper Austria, Hannes Bauer and Brigitte Gerstorfer.

Former finance minister Ferdinand Lacina is among the Babler supporters, as is former bishop and presidential candidate Gertraud Knoll-Lacina. The former Minister for Social Affairs, Erwin Buchinger, also excelled here. It is interesting that the spokesman for the Carinthian governor, Peter Kaiser, joined the Babler team. How Kaiser himself chooses is unknown. The top of the Klagenfurt party is pro-Doskozil.

There are also a few oddities overall. Among the Babler supporters, for example, is the author and clown Klaus Werner Lobo, a former (Viennese) member of the Green Party. Armed Forces trade unionist Manfred Haidinger once sat in the state parliament for the FPÖ, was expelled from it and can now be found in “Wir für Dosko”.

Many of the party’s celebrities have not yet declared themselves, including former chairman Christian Kern. With ÖGB boss Wolfgang Katzian, it will remain the case that he does not actively recommend any of the applicants.