Following mix-up, Austrian Social Democrats reverse result of leadership race

​​​​​​​By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) — After a technical blunder during a recent party congress, Austria's Social Democrats clarified that their new leader would be Andreas Babler, the mayor of a town south of Vienna, local media reported on Wednesday.

Traiskirchen mayor Andreas Babler said he accepted the presidency of the Social Democratic Party (SPO), adding that the election result was "unambiguous and clear," according to public broadcaster ORF, after the wrong candidate was announced the winner of Saturday's vote.

At the congress, the governor of the southeastern Burgenland province, Hans Peter Doskozil, had narrowly been declared the winner in a result that was later overturned after it became clear that there was an mistake in an Excel file during the count.

The head of the party's electoral commission, Michaela Grubesa, announced on Monday that it was Babler, not Doskozil, who won, taking 317 votes against Doskozil's 280.

She said a recount had taken place as a vote was missing from the original total.

During that process, party officials discovered that "the result was reversed" on Saturday due to the error that occurred when votes were put into the spreadsheet, Grubesa explained.

She apologized to Doskozil and said there was no need to hold a new convention to ratify the result.