Carinthia parties clash over political accountability

Carinthia’s state parliament debated who should bear political responsibility and liability, with speakers sparring over a direct election for the state governor. ORF reported that the discussion, proposed by Team Kärnten, also looked ahead to municipal elections at the end of February and a state election a year later.

Team Kärnten leader Gerhard Köfer said directly elected mayors, like business owners, were liable for their official acts, while no compensation claims had ever been brought against Carinthian state politicians over political decisions he described as wrong. He renewed his call for voters to elect the governor directly, arguing that winning a majority within a party was different from facing the verdict of the whole population.

SPÖ parliamentary leader Luca Burgstaller said he had mixed views. As party caucus leader, he supported holding a direct election “sooner rather than later,” saying Governor Daniel Fellner was the state’s most popular politician in polls and the SPÖ could perform about 10 percentage points better as a result. But as a parliamentarian, Burgstaller feared a directly elected governor could limit the state parliament’s ability to scrutinise the government. He added that a direct election would require an amendment to Austria’s federal constitution.

FPÖ leader Erwin Angerer said his party had called for a direct election 15 years ago. He accused the SPÖ-ÖVP state government of being responsible for weak economic growth, a wave of insolvencies, 111,000 people at risk of poverty and long waits to see doctors. Angerer said the Freedom Party should return to government to give the state a future.

The ÖVP said, unlike in other federal states, all general practitioner positions in Carinthia were filled. Party parliamentary leader Markus Malle said Carinthia had moved from eighth to fifth place in the unemployment ranking, thanking the SPÖ-ÖVP coalition for its work. The governing parties accused the opposition of persistent populist outrage.