Austrian People’s Party holds Congress
The Austrian People’s Party (OVP) will hold their party congress today.
The congress comes after the recent resignation of the agriculture and economy ministers. Both ministers were tied to the previous chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, who resigned after only two months in office amid a bribery scandal.
The OVP has seen a serious decline in popularity since the Kurz scandal broke. The resignations earlier this week only increased public perception that the ruling party is struggling with their mandate. The opposition has heavily criticized the OVP for their failures to deal with rising inflation and military reorganization, seen as critical with the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The OVP will likely use this congress to discuss party strategy and consolidate leadership around the new chancellor, Karl Nehammer. Nehammer will officially be confirmed as chancellor, and the party likely fill vacant ministerial positions to better flesh out their leadership. However, this is unlikely to increase their popularity in the short to medium-term as there is little they can do to combat inflation, which is high throughout Europe. Long-term, if they are unable to reform their disorganized public image, they will likely lose to the Social Democrats in the fall elections.
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