The SPÖ state party chairs met on Sunday, October 4, at Vienna’s Hotel Steigenberger for a crisis meeting called by Andreas Babler himself (Heute, ORF). The result is a phased retreat: Babler remains party chairman and vice chancellor for now, and Eva-Maria Holzleitner and Philip Kucher run the business as an acting dual leadership. Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer is to become vice chancellor in early 2027, and Babler is to carry on afterwards as a minister (ORF, VOL.AT, Kosmo). Marterbauer is being treated for cancer; the timing depends on his recovery. The reports give different dates for the formal departure from the party chairmanship; a party congress is to settle the final leadership. Heute and Exxpress describe that the state party chairs almost unanimously wanted Babler gone; this rests partly on an unverifiable “minutes”.
The SPÖ is the junior partner in the three-party coalition with the ÖVP and NEOS. A months-long transition at the top of the party carries the risk that government work suffers from internal power struggles. At the same time the SPÖ polls weakly: Börse-Express gives 12 percent and fourth place behind the Greens.
Nothing changes for you at first: the government stays in office, legislative projects continue. How stable the coalition is will only become clear with the big reform issues of the autumn, such as social assistance.
The agreement is an orderly transition: Babler remains able to act, the party gets time for the succession, and the government is not blown up. That is how parts of the SPÖ state organizations see it, who want to give the solution a chance.
A phased retreat prolongs the uncertainty. Critics, including NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger, object to multi-month transitions; the FPÖ is using the situation to demand snap elections.
What matters is not who is vice chancellor on paper in January, but whether the SPÖ takes part in governing until then instead of occupying itself with itself. Watch three things: whether the bodies confirm the dual leadership quickly, whether Marterbauer’s health keeps to the timetable, and whether the ÖVP and NEOS demand speed on reforms.
ORF (orf.at), VOL.AT, Heute, Kosmo, profil (Oct. 4–5, 2026)
SPÖ agrees on a phased retreat: Babler stays for now, Holzleitner and Kucher run day-to-day business
After a crisis meeting of the state party chairs in Vienna, Andreas Babler is to give up the party chairmanship and the vice chancellorship in stages; he stays on as a minister. Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP) is sticking with the three-party coalition and rules out snap elections.
On Sunday, October 4, at a crisis meeting in Vienna’s Hotel Steigenberger, the SPÖ agreed on a staggered departure of its chairman Andreas Babler, ORF, Heute and VOL.AT report. For now Babler remains party leader and vice chancellor. Day-to-day business will in future be run by the party’s women’s chair and minister Eva-Maria Holzleitner and parliamentary group leader Philip Kucher as an acting dual leadership; the party bodies are still to adopt this formally. In early 2027, Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer is to take over the vice chancellorship, while Babler is to stay in office as a minister.
According to the reports, Marterbauer is being treated for cancer; the exact timing depends on his recovery. A party congress is to decide on the final leadership. Heute and Exxpress describe that almost all state party chairs had demanded Babler’s departure and that he set conditions; Heute relies on a “minutes” of the meeting that cannot be independently verified. According to Börse-Express, the SPÖ stands at 12 percent in a poll, behind the Greens. Stocker ruled out snap elections and said the coalition is working (Heute, Salzburg24).