Dinkhauser is set for national fight

Fritz Dinkhauser. Foto: apa

By Colin Graham

Six or seven per cent as the goal of the former ÖVP man.
No cooperation with extremists.

Innsbruck. ÖVP rebel Fritz Dinkhauser has announced he will be running in the 28 September federal election after all.

Under the name "List Fritz Dinkhauser - Citizens’ Forum Austria’, he promi- sed to wage a "decent and independent” campaign and pledged that he would not be co-opted by any other party. Dinkhauser added that six or seven per cent of the vote nationwide would constitute "a tremendous success.”

Dinkhauser’s "citizens’ forum” had approved run- ning a list in the general election on Monday, but he said he had decided to think about doing so for a short time.

Decision with heart

His heart had said yes, but his head had called for careful consideration of a nationwide list.

On the one hand, he said, he had a duty to Tyroleans, but, on the other hand, he was deeply concerned about political culture in Austria.

Dinkhauser called for a future Council of Ministers composed of "the best brains” and said that he would not exclude anyone in that regard but cautioned that certain "extreme positions” had to be repudiated.

Small movements in Burgenland and Upper Austria quickly pledged their support for Dink- hauser.

Not everyone welcomed the news about Fritz Dinkhauser’s list however. Karl Nowak, Spokesman for the "Initiative to Save Austria”, said he was disappointed and angry that he did not have a place on it.

Dinkhauser ran his own list in the 8 June Tyrolean election in defiance of the ÖVP and won around 20 per cent of the vote. His list was instrumental in preven- ting the ÖVP from maintai- ning its majority in the provincial parliament.

Dinkhauser ran his own list in Tyrol because he thought that farmers had too much political influence on the provincial ÖVP.

Printausgabe vom 29.07.2008