A secret survey, according to which Philipp Achammer, Manfred Vallazza and Andreas Leiter Reber are said to be the least popular politicians, is causing bad blood in the state parliament. The backgrounds.
by Matthew Kofler
In the foyer of the South Tyrolean parliament it is the number one topic of conversation: According to a top secret election poll, the SVP is currently only 36.5 percent. That would be 13 mandates in the House. The current state government would de facto be voted out because the SVP coalition partner Lega would only get two mandates (five percent) and Forza Italia would miss the return to the House with 1.5 percent. The survey was carried out in mid-February by the market research company “Komma” run by former SVP state secretary Stefan Premstaller.
The results are so explosive because the SVP and Lega will probably need another coalition partner after the elections on October 22nd. Fratelli d’Italia would come into question, which, according to the survey, would have eight percent or three seats, and the 5-Star Movement with five percent or two seats. A majority with another German-speaking party would also be conceivable. However, the survey results from Team K, the Greens and the Freedom Party have not yet been made public.
In addition to the Sunday question, the popularity of the vast majority of state politicians was also queried. Specifically, “Komma” wanted to know from the interviewees whether the member of parliament/state councilor had done a good or bad job. According to indiscretions, SVP chairman Philipp Achammer, ex-Freiheitliche boss Andreas Leiter Reber and the Gadertal SVP politician Manfred Vallazza, who was involved in a housing affair, did particularly badly here. From SVP circles it is said that the data concerning the chairman are not correct and are deliberately spread in order to harm him. Achammer is stable second among the SVP voters.
But who commissioned the highly explosive survey?
The deputies with whom the daily spoke suspect that the SVP is behind it. This thesis is supported by the fact that SVP boss Philipp Achammer is said to have approached several mandataries this week in order to reveal their personal values to them. In addition, such a telephone survey is an expensive undertaking. According to insiders, the client must have shelled out a good 20,000 euros. However, Brennerstrasse firmly denies having commissioned the survey. Rather, individual SVP deputies are said to be behind it. For example, Helmuth Renzler, who is said to have surveyed the popularity of politicians in 2018. The employee is annoyed by the suspicions: “I would certainly be the last person to be informed of such a survey,” says Renzler.
A clear no also comes from the Eisacktalers Helmut Tauber and Paula Bacher. Provincial Councilor Waltraud Deeg also denies having requested the survey: “There are so many rumours, from always nice and well-meaning people.” The Pusterer SVP politician believes that financially strong associations or the South Tyrolean business newspaper could have queried the values of the deputies. The SWZ does its own survey, but this will not be published until spring. Sarner Franz Locher considers such surveys to be of little significance anyway, since only around 500 South Tyroleans would be interviewed for this purpose.
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