"Krone" presents

These Salzburgers want to join the National Council

Sunset over the city of Salzburg.

(Bild: frank peters - stock.adobe.com)

Karoline Edtstadler, a minister, is the ÖVP's top candidate in Salzburg. The SPÖ is putting Schwarzach mayor Andreas Haitzer on the top of the list and the FPÖ has an experienced parliamentarian in the race in Volker Reifenberger. Neos veteran Sepp Schellhorn is also in the running. 

The "Krone" presents the best-ranked Salzburg candidates.

ÖVP, Karoline Edtstadler

ÖVP European Minister Karoline Edtstadler.

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

The Minister for Europe is the most prominent top candidate in Salzburg. The 43-year-old grew up in Elixhausen and already has a lot of experience in government. From 2017 to 2019, she was State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior under Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) during the Turquoise-Blue period. Edtstadler has already announced that she will not become a minister under a possible Chancellor Kickl. She has held her current position as Minister for Europe and the Constitution since the Turquoise-Greens took office. Edtstadler has significantly less experience as a parliamentarian; in 2019 she sat in the EU Parliament for six months. "As the top candidate in Salzburg, I stand for openness to the world, social peace, economic upturn and social stability," says the lawyer. For Salzburg, the issue of affordable housing is also important to her: "Our major goal is to raise the home ownership rate in Austria to 60 percent."

SPÖ, Andreas Haitzer

Schwarzach's mayor Andreas Haitzer.

(Bild: Gerhard Schiel)

The mayor of Schwarzach im Pongau is the SPÖ's top candidate for the first time in Salzburg for the national elections. The 56-year-old has been mayor of his home municipality since 2008 and was already a member of the state parliament for the SPÖ from 2013 to 2015. Haitzer also wants to address municipal politics in parliament. "It is important to me that the issues of the municipalities and their finances are also taken into the National Council," says the mayor. "Fair financial equalization is urgently needed so that the municipalities have room to manoeuvre again." And as a former dispatcher at ÖBB, public transport is also very close to his heart. "The issue of the S-Link is far too short-sighted. Public transport is a big stepchild in all other districts outside the central area," says Haitzer. His demand: "It needs more support there too."

FPÖ, Volker Reifenberger

Volker Reifenberger is the FPÖ's defense spokesman.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Volker Reifenberger is - as he was five years ago - the Freedom Party's top candidate for the national elections in Salzburg. The 45-year-old has been a member of parliament since 2018. Since the end of 2022, the Salzburg native has also been his party's military spokesperson and, in this role, is Chairman of the National Defense Committee and a member of the National Security Council. Reifenberger is not only a member of the Freedom Party's federal party leadership. Since 2015, when the then FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache kicked the then Salzburg party leader Karl Schnell out of the party and completely reorganized the state party, Reifenberger has been a member of the Salzburg FPÖ state party executive. The problems with migration are the FPÖ parliamentarian's most important topic. Reifenberger works as a notary in the city of Salzburg and is also a militia officer in the Salzburg "Erzherzog Rainer" Jäger Battalion.

Neos, Sepp Schellhorn

Neos veteran Sepp Schellhorn

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Sepp Schellhorn has been with the Neos since the very beginning and is therefore the political veteran among Salzburg's top candidates. The 57-year-old was a member of the National Council from 2014 to 2021 and has been a member of parliament again since February after taking a break from politics. During his time out, he also joined the ranks of book authors and Youtubers. "I want to stand up for all employees and entrepreneurs so that they have ten percent more net from gross," says Schellhorn about his goals. A reform of federalism, the division of power between the federal government, provinces and municipalities, is also important to the entrepreneur from Goldegg. "I am in favor of federalism, but only if it is truly lived. What we have in Austria is that everyone is responsible for something, but no one is responsible for anything," criticizes Schellhorn.

Greens, Leonhard Hartinger

Environmental engineer Leonhard Hartinger.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Leonhard Hartinger joined the Greens as a lateral entrant relatively shortly before the National Council elections. The 28-year-old is by far the youngest top candidate in Salzburg. The environmental engineer from the city of Salzburg prevailed against three other candidates in the Green grassroots vote in May. He has already been publicly active before. He co-founded the citizens' initiative "Dafür", which campaigns for the S-Link (extension of the Salzburger Lokalbahn) and other transport projects in Salzburg. Before the National Council elections, however, the passionate folk musician is focusing on something else. "I will campaign in parliament to ensure that we get functioning flood and disaster protection and serious renaturation in Salzburg so that we can live safely in Salzburg in the future," says Hartinger.

The five small parties

Bettina Prochaska from the KPÖ Plus.

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

In addition to the parliamentary parties, the KPÖ Plus, the Beer Party, the MFG, the Madeleine Petrovic list and the "None of them" list are also running in Salzburg. Bettina Prochaska is the top candidate for the KPÖ Plus in Salzburg. She works as an intensive care nurse in a hospital and is in second place on the Communists' national list. "We need people with nursing expertise in parliament who have an idea of the reality in hospitals and retirement homes. That's what I'm running for," says Prochaska about her motivation.

Patrick Prömer, who was already the top candidate in the state elections, is running for the MFG. Number one on the Madeleine Petrovic list is psychotherapist and saxophonist Birgit Falkensteiner. The Beer Party and "None of them" have fielded candidates from outside Salzburg as top candidates.