Otto Bruckner takes over as Party Chairman, the Central Committee elects three new deputies

Information regarding the decision of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA), Vienna: 19 April 2026

On 19 April, the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA) addressed the situation that arose from the sudden and unexpected death of Chairman Tibor Zenker and the resulting need for change in the composition of the party leadership.

Elected by the Congress as Tibor Zenker’s deputy, Otto Bruckner, who had already served as chairman from 2013 to 2019, will take over as chairman. At the Central Committee meeting Bruckner said that he could never have imagined becoming “the successor to his successor”, but that in this difficult hour for the party he sees it as his duty to take on responsibility alongside with the Collective of the Central Committee, to continue leading the party in Tibor’s spirit.

At the same time, the Central Committee elected three deputy chairpersons, at the proposal of the new chairman: Marie Jaeger, Mathias Schneider and Lukas Haslwanter. All three have already been an essential in the work of the leadership and have independently pushedforward various areas of work.

In an initial joint statement, the chairman and the three deputies emphasised: “Under Tibor Zenker’s leadership, our party has become politically and ideologically united and consolidated in recent years. Organisationally, we have stable structures in five federal states. We want to lead the party towards a more successful and better future through collective and solidarity-based work with all its members and friends, just as Tibor would have wanted.”

The Central Committee expresses it's thanks for the many letters of condolence we have received from friendly parties following the death of our comrade Tibor Zenkers.

The PdA will be raising its flag on 1 May, as well as at the liberation celebrations on 10 May at the former concentration campMauthausen.

Work within and alongside the working class is a particular focus; a nationwide party conference on this topic will take place at the end of June.