The Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPD) has elected the chairwoman of its women's organization Eva-Maria Holzleitner and the head of the parliamentary group Philipp Kucher as interim party leaders. The decision was made unanimously at a meeting of the party leadership, several of its members announced after the meeting, Austrian public radio and television company ORF reported, BTA reports.
It was already known in advance that Finance Minister Markus Martebauer should take up the post of Vice Chancellor from the beginning of next year.
Due to a meeting with his colleagues from the European Union, Martebauer did not participate in the meetings of the presidium and the party leadership in person. He joined the second meeting remotely.
The SPD hopes that after his full recovery from cancer, Martebauer will also take over the party chairmanship, ORF reports. The congress, at which a permanent chairman will be elected, is due to take place in the first quarter of next year.
So far, no candidates have been nominated for the post, nor has a decision been made about the future of the retiring party leader Andreas Babler. A few days ago he stated that he wanted to remain a minister under all circumstances.
According to ORF, however, Babler is now stating that it is “common practice” for the vice chancellor to choose his own team.