Can Andreas Babler Rescue Austria’s Social Democracy?

The chaos surrounding the SPÖ chairman election caused a lot of malice and ridicule. Will this take revenge in the next election?

The glitch is extremely embarrassing for social democracy. But now she has a new party leader who is positioning himself. Looking ahead is urgent and important for the party. In current polls, the FPÖ is ahead with Herbert Kickl, but the time until the next national election is politically very dynamic. Things can twist and turn multiple times. It is therefore difficult to predict what will happen next. However, I believe that the current events shortly before the election will no longer play a role.

Can a left-wing SPÖ boss Babeler prevent a right-wing Chancellor Kickl?

It is not a good offer for the swing voters between the ÖVP and FPÖ, who have recently been found more often than average in rural areas and who are very anti-state and nationalistically oriented. But neither was Doskozil. Babler’s strength lies in direct contact with people. He is a good candidate for bringing back the votes of people who last voted for the FPÖ instead of the SPÖ out of protest and disappointment.

Some have compared Babler’s election to that of Jeremy Corbyn, who surprisingly made the Labor Party leader in Britain in 2015. How do you classify it with regard to social democracy in Europe as a whole?

Babler shares the orientation of the urban, cosmopolitan and middle-class people who want a better, fairer world. The trend from Germany that in former strongholds of social democracy, he will probably be able to prevent green mayors from being elected in Austria. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s easy in Austrian social democracy to only deal with a narrow range of topics. It is not yet clear whether the group around Babler will cooperate with the other parts of the party and develop a certain realism or will set a line without discourse.

Can the SPÖ learn something from the SPD or vice versa?

The political left in Germany developed differently than in Austria. So it’s not easy to compare. But a crucial question is whether or not you are the leading force left of center. And the other question is whether you can get enough votes from the center voters for a progressive majority. In the case of Austria, that would be a traffic light coalition with the Greens and the liberal Neos. Doing this successfully will be a major challenge.