What many already expected on the evening of the election or at least after the party executive committee on Monday after the state election, has now happened – weeks late: ÖVP party chairman and state governor Christopher Drexler took off his hat out after the People’s Party election defeat. Former state parliament president Manuela Khom will succeed Vice President Styrian as the party’s executive leader. A political era is over.
STYRIA. So yes: During the government negotiations, Christopher Drexler was still sitting at the table as chief negotiator for the ÖVP together with the FPÖ, but the party leader, badly hit by the state elections, was unable the positions are no longer filled. for the future state government. At the party executive of the Styrian ÖVP, Drexler offered to resign as party chairman, ending a debate about the change of chairman that had been partially open since 24 November.
Life for politics – “and for Styria”. This is how Christopher Drexler’s career could be described. The first sentence probably stands up to general objective guidelines, the postscript comes from the slogans used by the ÖVP recently in the election campaign. Drexler learned and continued to practice both perspectives from his predecessor and mentor Hermann Schützenhöfer.
Like his political foster father, the 53-year-old native of Graz is a professional politician. The lawyer has been in politics for more than thirty years: in 1989, Christopher Drexler started his career as a state school representative, in 1991 he became state chairman of the Young ÖVP Styria, in 1992 state secretary of the ÖAAB, and in 1996 there. He was installed as managing director of the “Steiermark Model”, an ÖVP think tank, by the head of the Vice President and state governor Waltraud Klasnic.
virtuoso intellectual rhetoric
From 2000, Drexler was represented in the state parliament, from 2003 to 2014 as ÖVP club chairman, then he moved to the state government, where he worked through almost all departments. At first he was responsible for science and research, then he acted as a state consultant for health and care management As a self-confessed culture lover, Drexler also dealt with sports, Europe, human resources and culture.
Christopher Drexler loves art and literature, and culture together. Friends and acquaintances describe the flamboyant politician, known for his rhetorical skills, as a “walking Wikipedia”. His verbal “trips” as a former club chairman in the state parliament are legendary, but even in his role as a state governor he rarely keeps his opinions hidden, most recently with his criticism of the Federal President, Herbert Kickl “quickly into the role. the martyr and into a pouty puddle to dismiss him.”
From the “crown prince” to the castle…
Unsurprisingly for political observers, state governor Hermann Schützenhöfer succeeded Drexler in the middle of the legislative period on June 3, 2022. On July 4, 2022, the state parliament will elect the “Crown Prince” as governor and move into in Graz Castle.
The two and a half years left until the election should give the bloodthirsty politician enough time to establish himself and also to convince potential skeptics – many of whom were outside the party – and to confirm the governor of the state for the People’s Party.
As is well known, the voters decided differently. In the end, the decisive factor was certainly not the strong “headwind” from Vienna, as Drexler admitted with a loud “thank you” towards the Hofburg on the evening of the election, but a combination of a lack of determined power for the general public. and the general shift to the right in Western democracies.
… and back to the country house
Anyone who knows Christopher Drexler knows that he cannot do without politics. Having recently lacked the necessary support from outside – from the voters – and within the party, the full-blooded politician is retreating from Graz Castle back to the Landhaus, the seat of the state parliament, and will will be the second president of the future state. the parliament will act together with Gerald Deutschmann (FPÖ) and Helga Ahrer (SPÖ).
And that brings us full circle: Manuela Khom, the first President of the State Parliament, is moving to the government bench as the LH representative.
Match:
The government program is approved by the FPÖ party committees
SPÖ Styria is preparing for the opposition
