Reds are in crisis

Heavy losses: SPÖ district leader seeks successor

In an interview with "Krone", SPÖ district party leader Herbert Kraus emphasizes that he has several reasons for handing over his office a year early.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/FOTO-LADEN)

The district manager is on long-term sick leave, and in seven of the 24 municipalities in the Zwettl district, the party is no longer represented in the town hall. SPÖ chairman Herbert Kraus is not only struggling with the election defeat. After he himself was kicked out of the municipal council, he is losing heart: a successor is already being sought.

The Zwetter SPÖ district party chairman Herbert Kraus actually wanted to hand over his office in spring 2026. "However, after a bitter election loss, an imminent hip operation in August and my retirement in December, I will be announcing the search for a successor now," he emphasized to the "Krone" newspaper.

District leader was kicked off the local council himself
The fact that the Reds in the Zwettl region are in a serious crisis is not only shown by the fact that they only have one of 37 mandates in the district capital. In two municipalities, they did not stand for election at all, and the last Red municipal councillor was kicked out of five other municipalities. This includes Kraus himself in Arbesbach.

The "bitter election result" would be offset by a few positive rays of hope, such as the retention of the two-thirds majority in the only two SPÖ municipalities with new local leaders and the fact that a seat was gained on the municipal council in two municipalities.

Sick leave without representation
The whole misery becomes all the more apparent with the long-term sick leave of the new SPÖ regional managing director. "The regional party is working on a solution. But I still don't see one," says Kraus. In any case, he wants to make his successor a topic of discussion at the board meeting in March.