Wants to become party leader

Rudi Fußi to challenge SPÖ leader Babler

SPÖ leader Andreas Babler already has his first challenger in Rudi Fußi.

(Bild: REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl, Christian Skalnik)

The red truce after the National Council elections lasted just one week. Of all people, the dazzling PR consultant and former Andreas Babler companion Rudi Fußi is now set to challenge the incumbent SPÖ leader.

Since the weekend, a hot rumor has been circulating in the domestic politics bubble that will cause unrest in the SPÖ leadership. The PR consultant and entrepreneur - who has also been an SPÖ member for many years - Rudi Fußi wants to challenge SPÖ leader Andreas Babler.

Concept ignored?
In other words, he wants to go into a run-off election against Babler. The reason for this step is said to be as follows: "He is outraged that everyone in the party is now only thinking about what job they will get in the next government. But nobody is thinking about why 50 percent of workers and 32 percent of employees voted for the FPÖ and no longer for the SPÖ," says one of Fußi's companions. As early as the summer, Fußi is said to have put together an election campaign concept for the SPÖ leadership, which was ignored.

SPÖ leader Andreas Babler already has his first challenger in Rudi Fußi.

(Bild: REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl, Christian Skalnik)

Press conference planned
According to sources close to the PR consultant, Fußi, who also provided political advice to then SPÖ Chancellor Christian Kern in 2017 and advised Babler's preferential vote campaign in the Lower Austrian state elections in 2023, will announce his plans at a press conference on Wednesday. The entrepreneur is considered to be economically liberal and socially progressive. 

The new SPÖ statutes have paved the way for this kind of battle. Within a quarter, Fußi would have to collect around 13,000 declarations of support from SPÖ members in four federal states. Fußi himself could not be reached by the "Krone", but those close to him are already saying: "He cannot be dissuaded from this plan."

With Fußi's probable start, the secret of the ominous Neue Rote website has also been revealed. The website showed a countdown that expires on Wednesday, probably just in time for the planned press conference - along with the claim: The country needs new red parties.