Excel kerfuffle has Austria’s Social Democrats change leadership

Andreas Babler was crowned leader of Austria’s Social Democratic Party on Monday as it was revealed that the faulty transfer of votes to an Excel spreadsheet had wrongfully claimed migration hardliner Hans-Peter Doskozil as the party’s leader at the special party conference two days before.

Doskozil, governor of the Austrian state of Burgenland, was first confirmed to be the new party chief after SPÖ’s special party conference in Linz on Saturday, but a surprising twist happened Monday as it was announced that Babler, Doskozil’s opponent in the leadership race and a far-left mayor from Traiskirchen, was declared leader with 52.66% of the votes.

The initial mixup was caused by Babler votes being mistakenly attributed to Doskozil and vice versa in an Excel spreadsheet, explained Michaela Grubesa, head of the election commission, at a hastily convened press conference on Monday afternoon.

A recount was ordered after it was discovered that a vote had been missing from the Saturday vote. Once found, it turned out the missing vote was invalid, which, after a recount, put Babler in the lead with 52.66%, while Dozkozil ended up with 46.51%.

Addressing journalists at a short press conference where no questions were allowed on Monday afternoon, Babler spoke of a “low point” that was painful for Doskozil and the party at large. “I would like to apologise from the bottom of my heart for the image that parts of our apparatus have given over the past few weeks,” he stressed, adding that he now expects full transparency and truth.

Following the unexpected turn of events, Babler insisted on another recount, noting that if it went in his favour, he would assume the position of party leader.

Doskozil already accepted his election defeat on Monday afternoon and congratulated his party colleague while calling the recent events “a rock bottom of Austrian social democracy”.

“For me, this closes the chapter of federal politics once and for all,” he concluded, leaving things open for future elections in his state of Burgenland.

Mocked by others

On the side of the social democrats, many were stunned by the turn of events.

Vienna’s Social Democratic mayor Michael Ludwig, for example, congratulated Babler on Twitter but refused to comment about the events.

However, the fiasco triggered a wave of malice and mockery among other parties.

For conservative ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker, the SPÖ is sinking into “complete chaos”, while right-wing FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl invited disappointed voters to switch to his party “in order to bring about real change”.

“If you can’t organise elections, you won’t win them,” tweeted liberal NEOS Secretary General Douglas Hoyos.

Green Party General Secretary Olga Voglauer sent out a correction to Saturday’s press release without further ado. “After all, I have been in Austrian politics for quite some time. This is still not worth commenting on,” Green Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler said on the fringe of an event.

Chaotic and drawn-out leadership contest

In March, after weeks of infighting and cross-firing against Pamela Rendi-Wagner, the party’s first-ever female chief, the Social Democrats decided to give its members a chance to select their future leader.

This led to a three-headed leadership race, during which Rendi-Wagner announced her full retirement from politics after coming third in an almost evenly split party members’ vote.

A few days before the showdown for leadership on Saturday, Babler faced backlash after a 2020 video of him calling the EU an “aggressive military alliance” and “worse than NATO” was released. His comments in the video have also provoked criticism from within his ranks, as the party has stuck to a pro-European orientation over the years.

“The wording may be exaggerated, but instead of discussing semantic quibbles, we would be better off talking about how we can make the EU more social and closer to its citizens,” Babler wrote as a reaction in a statement, emphasising being “by no means in favour of an EU exit” but for a reform of the EU Treaties.

(Chiara Swaton | EURACTIV.de)