June 3 won’t be a date that many in the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) will want to remember for very long. For months, the anti-migration hardliner Hans Peter Doskozil had launched attacks on the party’s sitting leader, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, before achieving his aim of forcing a leadership election. After weeks of campaigning, two final candidates remained. Doskozil made it to the final round, promising a tough migration policy to reclaim votes from the Right.

Opposing him stood Andreas Babler, mayor of the small city of Traiskirchen and a veteran member of his party’s left. Babler had only narrowly made it to the final round, beating Rendi-Wagner to second place with a margin of 0.1 percent.

One poll before the final round put the two candidates neck and neck, but Doskozil had a good chance of winning over disgruntled SPÖ delegates. Many were convinced that his promises to return electoral success to the party were enough to get him over the line. But before voting, Babler gave a compelling speech, confounding many critics, and was met with rapturous applause.