At first glance, it seemed to be the Vorarlberg contribution to a concerted reaction by the red state party organizations to the quarantine announced by the green Minister of Health Johannes Rauch. In a broadcast, the SPÖ state party leader Gabriele Sprickler-Falschlunger was outraged by the step of her Vorarlberg compatriot: “An end to the quarantine in view of the autumn wave that is just around the corner and the already high summer numbers is certainly the wrong decision by Health Minister Rauch.”
Spicy detail: Rauch and Sprickler-Falschlunger have been married for a little over seven months. The day before
On Christmas Eve, the two said yes in the town hall in Dornbirn. Sprickler-Falschlunger is married for the second time and is the mother of one daughter, Rauch is the father of two daughters.
When asked regarding the difference of opinion, Minister Rauch explained in Zib2: “I love my wife, she has a different opinion and that’s a good thing. I don’t know where the image of women comes from, that women have to share the opinion of their husbands. She speaks in her role as SPÖ leader, that’s not an issue at all.”
SPÖ only taken over in the fall
The 65-year-old SPÖ boss comes from a red family, her father was already in charge of the Vorarlberg SPÖ. Sprickler-Falslunger grew up in Dornbirn. After graduating from high school, she studied medicine in Graz and opened a practice in her hometown following her return. Sprickler-Falschlunger’s party membership dates back to 1999, and the following year she became a councilor in Dornbirn. In 2009 she came to the state parliament and quickly made a career in the red state party.
Sprickler-Falschlunger took over the Vorarlberger SPÖ, who were not exactly used to success, for the second time in autumn 2021. Between 2016 and 2018 she was party leader, and her primary task then, as now, was to fill in rifts within the party. After a three-year break, she made it to the top once more last year. Since the 2019 state election, the Vorarlberg Social Democrats have held 9.46 percent of the vote (four mandates), only four of Vorarlberg’s 96 mayors are Social Democrats.
