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18. 08. 09. - 14:00

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18. 08. 09. - 14:00

Styrian ÖVP boss says party has botched presidential candidacy

By Lisa Chapman

Styrian ÖVP leader Hermann Schützenhöfer has criticised his own party, charging it has already botched its handling of the question of running a candidate for president.

Schützenhöfer said during a provincial TV interview yesterday (Mon) evening that his party as a "party representing the interests of the state" should run a candidate in every election as a matter of self-respect.

He added, however, that differences of opinion in his party about the possible presidential candidacy of Lower Austrian ÖVP Governor Erwin Pröll meant it had "already botched" its handling of the question of an ÖVP candidate for the presidency.

Asked if he was unhappy with the job President Heinz Fischer, a former Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) member, had done, Schützenhöfer said: "No, but the question for me is not his possible candidacy for a second term but whether the ÖVP as a party representing the interests of the state should run a candidate as a matter of self-respect."

The Styrian ÖVP leader claimed his party had already brought its future candidate into disrepute through its public handling of the question of one.

Some ÖVP "grandees," he observed, had already come out in favour of Pröll, some had advocated waiting a while before choosing a presidential candidate, and others had indicated a preference for a non-party candidate.
                
Schützenhöfer left no doubt that he would head his party’s list in next year’s Styrian election. He said: "I think one can assume I will be the top candidate, but we will not formally choose that person until next winter. I don’t think there will be any surprise in that regard."

Recent poll results have suggested that Pröll would be the only other candidate with a chance to beat Fischer if he runs again.
                
The ÖVP isn’t the only party engaged in public debate about a presidential candidate. The Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) has also talked about one, with some favouring Claudia Haider, the widow of late Carinthian Governor Jörg Haider.

She, however, has dismissed rumours she is considering running for president next year.

"A candidacy is out of the question for me", the newspaper Kronen Zeitung quoted her as saying yesterday.

Speculation had increased after BZÖ leader Josef Bucher suggested Haider could run as an independent candidate.

But Haider announced politics meant nothing to her, adding she would focus on her charity work. "I have enough self-knowledge to know what I am good at," she said, adding she saw her future in Carinthia where the family owns a huge forest estate.

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