The background – Schützenhöfer withdrawal after promise to wife

With the move on Friday, which was surprising to almost everyone inside and outside the party, Hermann Schützenhöfer showed: I am in control, I make decisions about my professional life and not the party or the voters, I provide a orderly successor.

Close friends of Schützenhöfer report that he promised his family before the last state elections in November 2019 that he would not live through the entire period; his wife Marianne would have been resolutely against the candidate at the time.

There is only full throttle – or not at all
Schützenhöfer’s age played an important role in his decision. The 70-year-old increasingly feels that the high level of work – almost around the clock and every day of the week – is affecting his health. To draw the conclusion from this, the governor takes credit: His understanding of office is: full throttle or not at all.

When asked how he is doing, Schützenhöfer usually answers “pretty well” and then cheerfully lists the large number of agreements that have already been completed during the day and often still have to be kept until late at night. When his companions got tired during these trips across the country, Schützenhöfer really got going.

Death threats had to be taken seriously
Another reason for the departure: the scheming political strategist is aware that a repeat of the last clear victory in the next state elections is unlikely. So it’s better to take a step back at the peak than end up a loser. He knows that parties often use the word ‘support’ differently: if you are successful, the party will give you a lot of support. If you’re not successful, the worst that can happen is you get dumped wholeheartedly.

Schützenhofer’s decision was solidified during the corona pandemic. He has received serious death threats from anti-vaccination activists and conspiracy theorists, saying, “I don’t want to be a fair game.”

Quite the best successor
Schützenhöfer found it easier to let go, because in his friend Christopher Drexler he thinks he has chosen the very best successor. He is confident that Drexler will lead Styria and the ÖVP as a new style of political manager. In any case, Schützenhöfer did not want a successor to follow in his footsteps, but to go his own way.