Last TV duel

Penultimate duel: Babler vs. Meinl-Reisinger

Karl Nehammer and Herbert Kickl meet on Susanne Schnabl's show.

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

In the last two TV duels before the National Council elections, the leading candidates from four parties are once again battling it out verbally today. Andreas Babler (SPÖ) and Beate Meinl-Reisinger (NEOS) clashed in the first round. Now two candidates for Chancellor, Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and Herbert Kickl (FPÖ), are "dueling". We are now reporting live!

It was considered the highlight of the TV election campaign: Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer against his challenger, FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. The two were once on amicable terms - but on September 22, 2021, Nehammer took Kickl's word for it in a National Council meeting. Since then, there has been an ice age between the two.

Floods and broken single-family homes or not - Kickl fought hard right from the start. Apparently, Kickl rarely hits the brakes. Right in the fifth sentence, he described the coalition as the "worst government ever". It was not he, Kickl, who had become "radicalized", as Nehammer claimed, but "the opposite is the case".

Just don't let yourself be provoked, play the sovereign, calm chancellor, was the concept against Kickl. Nehammer tried to present himself as a calm explainer of the multiple crises. As a captain with vision in uncertain times. It was noticeable that Nehammer rarely wanted to look Kickl in the eye.

Both want to co-govern
SPÖ leader Andreas Babler and pink frontwoman Beate Meinl-Reisinger took part in the "warm-up round". The kid gloves came off right at the beginning: "That's retro, that's mothballs," Meinl-Reisinger criticized the red economic policy. Babler insisted on his revenue models, which have been "confirmed by many international experts".

Some rely on more state, others on less state. A sentence that shows how far apart SPÖ leader Andreas Babler and Neos frontwoman Beate Meinl-Reisinger are ideologically. However, both want to be in the next government - so the two will have to find a common, pragmatic path.

All in all, it is clear that there are major differences between Red and Pink, which would call a possible coalition into question. Meinl-Reisinger took the reins and pushed the Red Party onto the defensive in terms of content. The red man countered as best he could with his topics. And with his favorite topic: the super-rich must pay more and make more contributions.

With the krone.at live ticker, you were there throughout the evening - read the best moments here:

An overview of the TV debates so far:

Who you should vote for on September 29
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