A thankless job
The better halves of the top candidates
While the spouses of government leaders play an important role abroad, the motto in Austria is: just don't attract attention. Who the top candidates trust in their private lives.
They put their own careers on the back burner and keep the family together in the background, in addition to a dusty idea of the role of the political partner in Austria. Staying in the background and not giving the impression that you are discussing political issues with your spouse - self-confident wives at the side of the top candidates is not (yet) appreciated by the electorate. In short: the better halves of the top candidates are doing a pretty thankless job.
The party leaders have very political women at their side: Karin Blum, the wife of SPÖ leader Andreas Babler, was elected as a student representative during her student days. Werner Kogler's wife, on the other hand, is the federal spokeswoman for the Green Party and Katharina Nehammer was involved in federal politics as Wolfgang Sobotka's press spokeswoman long before her husband.
Katharina & Karl Nehammer (ÖVP)
Not a sheet of paper fits between the Nehammer couple. Kathi Nehammer, who is the daughter of ORF presenter Peter Nidetzky (Aktenzeichen XY), has been married to the Chancellor for 17 years. The couple has two children. She has the wedding date tattooed on her left arm.
The Nehammers are both political nerds. Before the Chancellor entered federal politics, Kathi Nehammer was press spokeswoman for former Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka. She has been looking after the family for three years and organizes charity events with Atil Kutoglu.
Sabine Jungwirth & Werner Kogler (Greens)
He kept the move a secret for a long time. It was only 18 months after the wedding that Green Party leader Werner Kogler revealed that he was getting married to his partner Sabine Jungwirth in 2023.
Kogler and Jungwirth, the federal spokesperson for the Green Economy, got married "in the smallest possible circle, there were two of us". Even the mothers only found out about the wedding afterwards.
Jungwirth and Kogler have been together for 14 years. And stepdaughter Miriam is Kogler's "sunshine".
Karin Blum & Andreas Babler (SPÖ)
She is the "love of his life", enthuses SPÖ leader Andreas Babler about his wife Karin Blum, who is a local councillor in Traiskirchen. On New Year's Eve 2008, Blum proposed to Andreas Babler on the Charles Bridge in Prague.
In SPÖ circles, it is said of the Vorarlberg native from Höchst that she is even further to the left ideologically than Andreas Babler.
Babler's wife is also one of his most important advisors. The two have a daughter.
Herbert Kickl with his partner
Virtually nothing is known about the family life of FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. The passionate mountaineer lives in Pukersdorf.
He has only appeared with his partner once so far, as Minister of the Interior, when he opened the police ball at Vienna City Hall in January 2018. This rare photo was taken at that ball.
The couple have a son together who is over 20 years old. Little is known about him either. Kickl's son tried his hand as a professional racing driver for a few years - but he competed in races under his mother's maiden name so that he could work on his career incognito.
Paul Meinl & Beate Meinl-Reisinger (NEOS)
The NEOS leader describes her life as a top candidate and mother of three daughters as a balancing act between "desk and kitchen box" and this multiple burden is an "eternal failure".
She contested the election campaign in 2019, just a few months after the birth of her third daughter. Her husband, Paul Meinl, went on maternity leave for each child - a matter of course for the judge. He is the most important support for the thoroughbred politician.
The couple have bought a house in Bad Aussee in the Salzkammergut region as their main family retreat.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
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