Austria's Vice Chancellor and SPÖ leader Andreas Babler announces his withdrawal

Austria's Vice Chancellor and Social Democratic Party leader Andreas Babler has announced that he will step down from both positions in the coming months. The 53-year-old SPÖ leader had recently come under increasing pressure within the party due to weak poll numbers. “We have to manage to get everyone to pull together again,” he said about the SPÖ leadership debate.

Babler said after a party meeting in Vienna that he had suggested Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer as the new Vice Chancellor. The handover is scheduled to take place at the beginning of 2027, the exact date is still unclear due to Marterbauer's ongoing cancer treatment. Marterbauer (61) is considered a respected economist and, according to surveys, enjoys a high level of trust among the population.

Babler wants to hand over party leadership to a temporary management team at the turn of the year. The new chairman is to be appointed in the spring. However, Babler wants to remain Minister for Housing, Culture, Media and Sport in the government coalition of the conservative ÖVP, SPÖ and the liberal Neos.

Chancellor Stocker warns against debates within the party

Babler says he has informed the coalition partners about the personnel changes. Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP) emphasized in an initial statement: “Internal party discussions must not affect government work.”

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Babler, a former shift worker, became SPÖ leader in 2023. Because of his decidedly left-wing positions, he was controversial among parts of the party from the start. In the parliamentary elections the following year, the Social Democrats achieved their worst result to date with around 21 percent. According to current surveys, the party is only at around 15.5 percent.

A week ago, media manager Gerhard Zeiler announced that he wanted to replace Babler. Zeiler is the former boss of RTL Group and currently a top manager at Warner Bros. His move reignited the leadership debate in the SPÖ, but so far hardly anyone from the party has publicly backed Zeiler. It is still unclear who will take over leadership of the party from Babler.

dpa/gold