Green top candidate Lena Schilling wanted to ‘fight like a lioness’ after the media swirl surrounding leaked chat messages and personal attacks from Schilling’s (former) environment. She gives a foretaste of this in Carinthia.
You can’t really see the efforts of the past few weeks on the young Viennese’s face as she walks towards Lake Wörthersee side by side with Secretary General Olga Voglauer. After media appointments in Carinthia, she met a citizens’ initiative that had been fighting against the development of the eastern bay. Thematically, the 23-year-old is in safe waters, surrounded by like-minded people, and seems confident, unaffected by the many negative headlines.
“She dares to do something…”
Schilling, who is under heavy fire, also does not avoid personal meetings during the street election campaign in the center of Klagenfurt. How do voters react? Schilling is noticed and recognized, confronted (sometimes politely), lectured, asked for a selfie, but also insulted behind closed doors – of course in such a way that the EU’s top candidates do not hear. “She dares to do something…” is whispered.
“You need character in politics”
Despite her young age, Schilling still shows a quick wit – for example, she refutes a Carinthian’s accusation that politics requires character: ‘That’s true – that’s why I’m here. To prove who I really am!” Schilling wants to fight “for people’s trust” and is unsurprisingly asked several times during the distribution campaign about the accusations against her. But the Viennese does not lack self-confidence and there are no signs of fear of contact.
In an interview with “Krone” Schilling also lets us look behind the facade: “Without this incredibly supportive team behind me, I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this!” Of course, there were also times when it all became too much, as she admits. But most of the time she flees to the front and emphasizes factual issues when asked about the published chat messages.
In any case, the elections are not over yet for Schilling – despite the sharply declining vote figures. The young politician definitely wants to take advantage of the upcoming final spurt, the next two weeks, as she reveals to “Krone” before taking the bus to Graz for the diversity ball.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
