Only a few months ago, polls of the KPÖ and the Beer Party predicted the chances of joining the National Council. The longer the election campaign lasts, the more the values of the Beer Party in particular are falling. Their boss and actual program, Dominik Wlazny, seems disappointed.
Rock musician Dominik Wlazny (also known as Marco Pogo) and his father, who is also his manager, are extremely cautious in their dealings with the media. Wlazny rejects duels and discussion rounds during the election campaign. If you saw one of his rare appearances on Sunday evening ‘In the Center’, you will understand why. In the discussion round of the small parties with KPÖ, ‘None of them’ (Verandering) and Lijst Madeleine Petrovic, the founder of the beer party was often completely blank about the content or stammered.
“He didn’t present much programming”
When it came to the topic of banning religious symbols from schools, there were sentences like: “We need a subject update, we need a future subject that teaches ethics, moral courage and sustainable living, instead of a doctorate in mathematics.” does not have much of a program “He is trying to score points with his personality, with the way he wants to do politics, and others have a concrete program,” political scientist Kathrin Stainer-Hämmerle analyzed after the broadcast.
Critics accuse Wlazny and his father of the “Beer Party” only serving to market their own brand of beer, music and other fan merchandise related to the band “Turbobier”. The whole thing is a kind of family business. Pogo has so far cleverly used his status as a musician to bring his politics to the attention of the people after songs, T-shirts and beer. His greatest success came in the presidential elections in the fall of 2022, where he won 8.3 percent of the vote and even came second in Vienna.
“Wlazny is now getting on journalists’ nerves”
At the start of the election campaign, almost all polls showed that the Beer Party had eight percent in parliament. That has now changed. Research by the Institute for Demoscopy and Data Analysis shows that the Beer Party is only at five percent. IFDD boss Christoph Haselmayer does not consider entry into the National Council as guaranteed. “This could be a bloodcurdling finale.” The expert sees the reason for the Beer Party’s falling values in the fact that the movement is no longer hyped by the media. “The journalists are now getting on their nerves because the leader of the Beer Party, Dominik Walzny, simply says nothing.”
Not only does Wlazny leave voters in the dark about his specific political content, little is known about him himself. Born in Vienna but raised in the Pulkautal, he graduated from school in Hollabrunn, where he made a name for himself early on in the local “Schlachthof”, in particular the “Association for the Promotion of the Alternative Music Scene”. The first band of the then teenage punk rocker was the “Gogets”, and as “Niki Plastik” he was even less known than with his later stage name “Marco Pogo”, which he still uses.
Besides music, there was also medicine. Wlazny once wanted to work as a reconstructive surgeon, or so he stated in an interview, but during his time as a rotating doctor he chose “Turbobier”. But the doctor also pays attention to his health as a rocker: Wlazny has run two marathons and – in his own words – “doesn’t drink much beer”, preferring lemonade.
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.
