Gamon re-elected as Vorarlberg NEOS leader

Claudia Gamon has been re-elected as leader of NEOS in Vorarlberg, winning 92.68 per cent of votes at a party meeting in Lauterach on Saturday, ORF reports. Forty-one members cast ballots.

Gamon said she was standing for the role for a second time because she believed she was the best person for it. In her speech after the vote, she turned to the next state election, scheduled for autumn 2029, and sharply criticised the ÖVP-led state government.

She said Vorarlberg was politically “without a head” and lacked leadership. Gamon criticised Governor Markus Wallner for not making use of his party’s large majority and described the state as “bankrupt like never before”, citing a projected debt of more than one billion euros. She also pointed to rising insolvencies and a lack of structural reforms. Gamon said the FPÖ was doing nothing and accused it of simply waiting for Wallner to leave office.

Gamon said NEOS was willing to ask difficult questions. The party is calling for a hospital reform that would reduce the number of locations from seven to two, and supports merging municipalities. She said Vorarlberg had too many small municipalities with fewer than 1,000 residents and did not need four district authorities. She cited the federal government’s new social assistance system as an example of structural change made possible with NEOS in government.

Johannes Gasser, a member of the National Council, was elected as Gamon’s deputy. The other members of the state executive are finance officer Christoph Gruber, state parliament members Katharina Fuchs and Fabienne Lackner, Ricardo Griesser and Christof Hotz.

Gamon succeeded Sabine Scheffknecht as the party’s Vorarlberg leader in February 2023. Since the 2024 state election, the former member of the European Parliament has also led the NEOS group in the Vorarlberg state parliament.