Andreas Babler

Babler grew up in a Semperit working family in Möllersdorf, part of the municipality of Traiskirchen. He is a trained fitter and worked at Vöslauer Mineralwasser.

After starting his career in politics he studied political communication at the University for Continuing Education Krems (MSc).[5]

In 1989 he joined the Socialist Youth Austria where he subsequently rose to become the secretary.

In 1995 he became a member of the town council of Traiskirchen and subsequently became mayor of Traiskirchen in 2014. In his first election he received the best election result for the SPÖ in Traiskirchen since 1945: 73.1 percent, an increase of 4.2%.[6]

He has received regular nationwide attention due to the often debated refugee camp Traiskirchen, the largest refugee camp in Austria and one of the largest of these camps in Europe.[7][8]

In the 2023 Lower Austrian state election Babler received 20,000 preferential votes.[4] Traiskirchen was one of very few towns with increases for the SPÖ.[9] Subsequent to this success, he was named the chairperson of a reform commission of the Social Democratic Party of Lower Austria.[4]

On 23 March 2023 Babler announced his candidacy for the 2023 Social Democratic Party of Austria leadership election, as a surprise candidate [10][11] and may become a contender to become the new chair of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, even causing another candidate, Nikolaus Kowall to withdraw his candidacy and endorse Babler instead.[12][13]

Following his success in the Lower Austrian state election in 2023, Babler was appointed as a member of the upper chamber of the Austrian Parliament into the Federal Council as a representative for Lower Austria in March 2023.[2][3]