Norbert Hofer will run as the FPÖ’s main candidate in the state elections in Burgenland in January 2025 – and is directly challenging the SPÖ state governor, Hans Peter Doskozil.
First silence, then surprise – twice within a few days. This is how the FPÖ communicated from the National Council election on 29 September. First the celebration of “Blue Monday and Tuesday”, then the unusually friendly federal party chairman Herbert Kickl appeared before the media. On Wednesday he went in and out of Vienna’s Reichsratsstrasse, where the Freedom Party has its club premises, twice so that all the cameras and photographers could get a picture: “We don’t want to put anyone at a disadvantage, ” he said. Unexpectedly, the news came the next day that Norbert Hofer, a promising candidate for the office of President of the National Council, would be running as the best candidate for the FPÖ in the Burgenland state elections in January 2025.
The executive of the Burgenland state party decided the latter on Thursday afternoon in Pinkafeld (Oberwart district), the hometown of the third President of the National Council. Today, Friday, Hofer himself spoke at the FPÖ state parliamentary club in the country house in Eisenstadt, together with the chairman of the blue state party Alexander Petschnig – the press conference was announced as “bang”. “Thank you for coming to my homecoming,” Hofer greeted the journalists. And he also used the following phrase: There is a great deal going on for him – because the executive committee of the state party has chosen him unanimously as the best candidate. And he immediately followed it up with an announcement to the current state governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ): “Yes, I’m coming back to Burgenland – but not coming second.” The easternmost federal state needs “political weight as a real balance in the current situation”.
Hofer: “I’m not Sebastian Kurz”
“I started here,” Hofer then recalled about his first political steps in Eisenstadt as chairman of the city party (1994-2006) and member of the executive board of the state party (since 1994). Further steps followed as secretary of the state party of the FPÖ Burgenland, member of the executive committee of the state party or club director of the FPÖ state parliament club as well as vice-chairman of the state party. He was also able to gain a lot of experience in Vienna, not only pointing out that he was the third longest serving President of the National Council and that he achieved a very impressive result in the 2016 federal presidential election: 35.05 by first in the first round of voting, in the runoff against Alexander Van der Bellen Hofer achieved 46.2 percent.
Now he is coming back to his home country so he is very motivated, emphasizes Hofer. And: He has “a very good relationship of trust” with Kickl. “Now I want to do something that makes me particularly happy and I believe I can be very successful there,” he said optimistically. Incidentally, he made this decision, “the decision of the heart,” “on the rowing machine during a very intense training session.” Immediately afterwards, he put “red and gold on his social media channels” (ie in the colors of the state of Burgenland, note) to communicate this to the outside world. He will not accept the office of party chairman in Burgenland, however, Hofer said.
Will Pinkafelder be run in the 2028 federal presidential election? After all, he announced that recently. Hofer does not say: If the election falls during his tenure as the one responsible for Burgenland, he prefers Burgenland. “I’m not Sebastian Kurz and I don’t want any personal dominance,” Hofer said. That means: Petschnig is moving to the National Council, while Michaela Brandlhofer is taking up her mandate in the state parliament. Petschnig will continue to hold office as chairman of the state party for the time being. If Hofer is elected by the Burgenlanders, he will move from the National Council to Burgenland.
Who will be the liberal President of the National Council?
Who does the FPÖ now propose as President of the National Council? Nothing was said about this at a press conference in Eisenstadt. And the federal party is also keeping a low profile. Herbert Kickl’s speech before the committee meeting on Wednesday evening applies, according to the “Presse” request. Parties would always make such decisions just before the joint meeting: “We’ll do it the same way,” Kickl said. The joint meeting of the National Council will take place on 24 October.
Apart from Nobert Hofer, there are two names that have a good chance of being named President of the National Council so far – they are Walter Rosenkranz and Barbara Fürst. Rosenkranz is currently ombudsman and could move back to the National Council. He did not dismiss the office before the committee meeting last Wednesday. Asked if he could take the job, he said: “We’ll see.”