After Hofburg hype – Wlazny beer party in parliament? will be difficult

The Reds are doing their best to downplay the danger to the party of Beer Party boss Dominik Wlazny’s electoral success. But who of all people intervenes in this story? Burgenland’s head of state Hans Peter Doskozil. “It is perhaps a bigger factor for social democracy than for other parties.” For political expert Thomas Hofer: “Doskozil puts the finger on a sore point”. What does Wlazny do with the hype surrounding his person? Tassilo Wallentin and Gerald Grosz are also thinking about future plans.

The fact is, it is a difficult road from the election of the federal president to a successful election of the National Council. Six years ago, Irmgard Griss faced the same question as Wlazny. Only the ex-OGH president had achieved nearly 19 percent in the Hofburg elections – ten percentage points more than Wlazny’s 8.31 percent.

Griss formed an alliance with the Neos and joined the National Council. “The difficulty is to find really good people who care about the cause and who are not self-promoters and just want a mandate.” Because a party “must be meaningful and sustainable — and bring something for the state,” Griss says.

Finance and Media Presence
That’s not the only hurdle. A financial injection, such as the Neos he received from Hans Peter Haselsteiner (he donated a total of two million euros), is now no longer permitted by law. Each new party would depend on small donors (maximum 7,500 euros per year).

A third challenge is the presence in the media. Different rules apply to the elections to the House of Representatives than to the Hofburg elections. Only the National Council parties are automatically present in the TV matches. “The polls should be promising and the broadcaster should expect a good quota to admit a new party,” says political scientist Kathrin Stainer-Hämmerle. If Wlazny wants to join in, he must start building now.