The red series of mishaps

Self-flagellation of the SPÖ: What has happened so far …

Andreas Babler often stands alone within the SPÖ ...

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

SPÖ leader Andreas Babler often wallows in memories, and no wonder: social democracy has seen better times. The pressure of suffering among the comrades is now enormous - and at the same time not great enough to withstand public abuse.

Andreas Babler does not have it easy with his party colleagues. A look at the past few months shows this: the memorable Excel mishap surrounding the party chairmanship and the Vienna allotment garden affair have barely been forgotten when the Linz Brucknerhaus scandal surrounding Mayor Klaus Luger comes around the corner.

As if that wasn't enough, Doris Bures (SPÖ), a political heavyweight in the party, also slams the draft election program as "unserious" in places. At the same time, Babler is campaigning for a new era of "clean" politics. The optics are sometimes devastating.

The SPÖ sees itself as a governing party, actually even a chancellor's party. This claim stems from a bygone era. It has to do with the Bruno Kreisky era, which continued through Fred Sinowatz, Franz Vranitzky and Viktor Klima and made anything other than a red head of government unthinkable for an entire generation.

And then came Schüssel
The turning point came at the turn of the millennium, when Wolfgang Schüssel dared to break the black-blue taboo. Since then, it is no longer the SPÖ that seems to be stuck in government, but the People's Party, which keeps its doors open in all directions.

Since then, the Social Democrats have actually not been running as smoothly as before, when they could still afford all kinds of scandals from Lucona to Noricum and yet were not ousted from power. At least Werner Faymann has since regained the chancellorship.

Faymann was mercilessly booed in 2016.

(Bild: APA/HANS PUNZ)

However, it is precisely the case of this Werner Faymann that continues to haunt the SPÖ to this day. The catcalls against the then chancellor and party leader on 1 May 2016 are considered a historic fall from grace in large parts of the party. This wound has not healed to this day, but personal injuries of various kinds have since been added.

The Carinthian Don Quixote
There is now hardly anyone in top positions who puts the good of the party above that of their own wing or their own person. Carinthian Governor Peter Kaiser sometimes almost came across as Don Quixote when he tried to bring the party's various interest groups to their senses.

Yet the SPÖ is no longer so divided in terms of content. The draft of the current election manifesto hardly differs from that of the People's Party when it comes to asylum policy, which for years served as an internal party friction between left and right. When it comes to social policy, the party has a similar mindset and the few differences are primarily held up in order to distinguish themselves from the other wings.

Troublemaker Doskozil loses to small-town mayor
The fact that there are still constant clashes is also due to the fact that there has been no real authority in the party for a long time. Or as Doskozil would say: there is a lack of "leadership". The emperor of Burgenland has ultimately polarized for too long to find a broad base, even if he would have had a good chance of success with voters.

Doskozil was party leader for a few hours due to an Excel error.

(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Babler, the mayor of a small town, who had previously attracted attention in federal politics primarily with interjections from Traiskirchen, then came to the fore. With his thoroughly populist left-wing course, the municipal leader has the support of parts of the base, which can never hurt, but he lacks any backing from the influential sub-organizations.

The only chance for the "Babler sect"
He often receives disapproval from the federal states via the media and only rarely support. Internally, the "Babler sect" is often referred to derisively to describe the rather small circle around the chairman. Babler's first and probably only chance is to achieve success against all expectations in the upcoming national elections or at least bring the SPÖ into government and gain a stronger standing from there.

According to opinion polls, the SPÖ is currently fighting for second place, which is considered to be particularly explosive this year. This party could provide the chancellor, as a coalition with the Kickl-FPÖ is not on the cards:

Otherwise, the Social Democrats will probably continue to be at loggerheads and will only be able to shape the future in their strongholds.