Steamer for bavarian spd chairman pronold
State party chairman florian pronold took a steaming 80.6 percent in his re-election at a state party conference in augsburg on saturday – just under four percentage points less than two years ago. Secretary general natascha kohnen also achieved a worse result than in 2011 (85.1) with 80.5 percent.
Before pronold’s re-election, top candidate christian ude had warned the almost 270 delegates entitled to vote: "there are butchers and companions who like to tick the box." He would like to see a strong and united SPD. State leader pronold has opponents, especially among the jusos; recently, deputy state chairman thomas beyer also criticized pronold’s leadership style. Beyer did not run again in augsburg on saturday.
Pronold had sharply attacked the CSU in his speech before the election because of the kinship affair: "bavaria does not deserve to be dragged through the mud by the amigo-filz of the CSU."
At the same time, he expressed fears that the affair involving the employment of family members by deputies would have a negative impact on all parties – including the SPD. The impression is growing that it doesn’t matter who you vote for anyway.
"We must not trust that this amigo-filz will already lead to the CSU being voted out of office," pronold warned with a view to the state parliamentary elections in september. "The biggest opponent is not the CSU, the biggest opponent is the electoral mood, is the sullenness."
At the start of a two-day state party conference, delegates unanimously passed a resolution accusing CSU politicians of enrichment, abuse of power and facilitating tax evasion.
