1.
Bicameralism
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A bicameral legislature is one in which the legislators are divided into two separate assemblies, chambers or houses. As of 2015, somewhat less than half of the national legislatures are bicameral. Often, the members of the two chambers are elected or selected using different methods, which vary from country to country and this can often lead to the two chambers having very different compositions of members. However, in many Westminster system parliaments, the house to which the executive is responsible can overrule the other house, some legislatures lie in between these two positions, with one house only able to overrule the other under certain circumstances. For example, one house would represent the aristocracy, and the other would represent the commoners as was the case in the Kingdom of England. Others, such as France under the Ancien Régime had a legislature known as the Estates General, which consisted of separate chambers for the clergymen, the nobility. The Founding Fathers of the United States also favoured a bicameral legislature, the idea was to have the Senate be wealthier and wiser. Benjamin Rush saw this though, and noted that, this type of dominion is almost always connected with opulence, the Senate was created to be a stabilising force, elected not by mass electors, but selected by the State legislators. Senators would be more knowledgeable and more sort of republican nobility—and a counter to what Madison saw as the fickleness. He noted further that the use of the Senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, with system and with more wisdom. Madisons argument led the Framers to grant the Senate prerogatives in foreign policy, an area where steadiness, discretion, the Senate was chosen by state legislators, and senators had to possess a significant amount of property in order to be deemed worthy and sensible enough for the position. In fact, it was not until the year 1913 that the 17th Amendment was passed, as part of the Great Compromise, they invented a new rationale for bicameralism in which the Senate would have states represented equally, and the House would have them represented by population. Many nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British three-tier model, nevertheless, the older justification for second chambers—providing opportunities for second thoughts about legislation—has survived. An example of controversy regarding a second chamber has been the debate over the powers of the Canadian Senate or the election of the Senate of France. The relationship between the two chambers varies, in cases, they have equal power, while in others. The first tends to be the case in federal systems and those with presidential governments, the latter tends to be the case in unitary states with parliamentary systems. In the United States both houses of the U. S and this is due to their original location in the two-story building that was to house them. In Canada, the country as a whole is divided into a number of Senate Divisions, each with a different number of Senators, Senators in Canada are not elected by the people but are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister
2.
National Council (Austria)
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The National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian Parliament and is frequently referred to as the lower house. The constitution endows the National Council far more power than the Federal Council, the National Council is where Austrias federal legislative authority is concentrated, for a bill to become federal law, it must be resolved upon by this chamber. Bills passed by the National Council are sent to the Federal Council for corroboration, if the Federal Council approves of the bill or simply does nothing for eight weeks, the bill has succeeded. In other words, the Federal Council does not have any power to prevent adoption of legislation. The approval of the National Council is also required for most of the prerogatives of the Federal Assembly to be exercised. For example, motions to call for a referendum aimed at having the President removed from office by the electorate, only motions to impeach the President can also be from the Federal Council. National Council elections are general elections, the nine regional electoral districts are subdivided into a total of 43 local electoral districts. Political parties submit separate ranked lists of candidates for district, regional or local. They also submit a federal-level list, votes cast are first counted within their local electoral districts. Since there are 43 local districts but 183 seats to fill, the number of votes required to win one seat is simply the number of votes divided by the number of seats assigned to the district in question. For example, if 150,000 votes are cast in a local district. If a party has scored 61,000 votes out of the 150,000 votes cast, since 60,000 votes would have been sufficient to win two seats,1000 votes are left unaccounted for by this first round of tallying. Any vote not accounted for on the level is dealt with on the regional level. Any vote not accounted for on the level either is dealt with on the federal level. The DHondt method is used to allocate any National Council seats remaining to be filled, in addition to voting for a party list, voters may express preference for one individual candidate. It is not possible, however, to vote for party X. In practice, however, Austrias President plays no role in the administration, which is left to the Chancellor and Cabinet, which are dependent on the confidence of the National Council. While the President has the authority to dissolve a hostile National Council
3.
Federal Council (Austria)
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The Federal Council (German, Bundesrat is the second chamber of the Austrian Parliament, representing the nine States of Austria on federal level. As part of a bicameral legislature alongside of the National Council, the Bundesrat has its seat at the Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna, in a conclave of the former Herrenhaus chamber of the Imperial Council. Moreover in most cases a Federal Councils veto is just suspensive, meaning the National Council can override it, therefore, the decisions of the Bundesrat can only delay legislation. Since its inauguration on 10 November 1920, the deputies of Bundesrat have never achieved the status of a counterbalance in relation to the National Council, so far, the concept has been maintained as a manifestation of Austrias federal system. The Federal Council and the National Council, if in joint session, form a parliamentary body. The 61 members of the Federal Council are elected according to proportional representation by each of the Austrian states legislatures for 5- to 6-year terms, the composition of the Bundesrat therefore changes after every state election and the distribution of seats in the Austrian Landtage. The second largest faction of the particular Landtag has the right to designate at least one deputy, the number of representatives delegated by each Bundesland ranges between three and twelve, depending on its population as ascertained by a regular census, it is fixed per presidential decree. Federal Assembly Politics of Austria List of legislatures by country
4.
Austrian People's Party
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The Austrian Peoples Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. In federal governance, the ÖVP is currently the smaller partner in a government with the SPÖ. The Austrian Peoples Party is conservative, for the first election after World War II, ÖVP presented itself as the Austrian Party, was decidedly anti-Marxist and regarded itself as the Party of the Centre. The ÖVPs economic policies during the era generally upheld a social market economy, with regard to foreign affairs it strongly supports European integration. Over the last two decades, the Peoples Party has also adopted a more environmentalist stance than other conservative parties. The Austrian Peoples Party is popular mainly amongst white-collar workers, owners of large and small businesses, in particular, it receives the backing of a majority of Austrias civil servants, a remarkably large and influential group due to the size and scope of Austrias government bureaucracy. Austrias blue-collar workers, by comparison, tend to endorse the Social Democratic Party, all in all, Peoples Party supporters are comparatively educated and affluent. While still sometimes honored by ÖVP members for resisting Hitler, the built by Dollfuß was authoritarian in nature and has been dubbed as Austrofascism. In its present form, the Peoples Party was established immediately after the restoration of Austrias independence in 1945, it has been represented in both the Federal Assembly ever since. In terms of Federal Assembly seats, the Peoples Party has consistently been the strongest or second-strongest party, as such, at the state level, the Peoples Party has long dominated the rural states of Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg. It is less popular in the city state of Vienna and in the rural but less strongly Catholic states of Burgenland and Carinthia. In 2004 it lost its plurality in the State of Salzburg, the ÖVP won a sweeping victory in Austrias first postwar election, in December 1945, winning almost half the popular vote and an absolute majority in the legislature. It remained the senior partner in coalition until 1966. Although the FPÖ was the larger of the two, it was considered far too controversial to lead a government, so the ÖVPs Wolfgang Schüssel became chancellor. This caused widespread outrage in Europe, and the European Union imposed informal diplomatic sanctions on Austria, bilateral relations were frozen, including contacts and meetings at an inter-governmental level, and Austrian candidates would not be supported for posts in EU international offices. Austria, in turn, threatened to veto all applications by countries for EU membership until the sanctions were lifted, a few months later, these sanctions were dropped as a result of a fact-finding mission by three former European prime ministers, the so-called three wise men. In November 2002, the 2002 legislative election resulted in a victory for the Peoples Party under Schüssel. Haiders Freedom Party was reduced to 10. 16% of the vote, after the Alliance for the Future of Austria had split from the FPÖ in 2005, so that they could continue their coalition together with the Peoples Party until 2007
5.
Social Democratic Party of Austria
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The Social Democratic Party of Austria is a social-democratic political party in Austria. The SPÖ has ties to the Austrian Trade Union Federation and the Austrian Chamber of Labour, Socialist and workers movements and associations had already started to form in Austria by the mid-19th century. The partys first meeting place in 1874 in Neudörfl in what later became Burgenland. The following years saw factional infighting, and the party split into moderate and it was united in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers Party of Austria through the work of Doctor Victor Adler. At the party congress in Hainfeld, the party decided to accept Adlers Declaration of Principles on 30 December 1888,1 January 1889 is therefore considered the partys founding date. On 12 July 1889 the first issue of the party newspaper the Arbeiter-Zeitung was printed, initially close to Marxism, the party continued to grow especially in Vienna and the industrial areas of Bohemia, Moravia, Styria, Lower Austria and Upper Austria. The party participated in the founding of the Second International in Paris on 14 July 1889, the party campaigned for more rights for workers, including their right to vote. In the Brünner Programm of September 1899, the Socialists demanded that the Austro-Hungarian Empire be reformed into a democratic state. The Social Democrats were allowed to run in the City Council elections of Vienna on 30 May 1890, in Trieste the Italian-speaking Social Democratic League decided at its congress in December 1897 to change its name to Adriatic Italian Section of the Social Democratic Workers Party of Austria. Notably, the Trieste Socialists preferred to use the label socialist rather than social democrat, in 1907, after a general strike, universal suffrage was granted. In the elections to the House of Deputies in the Reichsrat, out of a total of 516 seats, the party won 87 seats, becoming the second strongest fraction in parliament after the Christian Social Party. Eventually, by 1911, the Socialists became the strongest party in parliament, after the death of Emperor Franz Joseph, the first peace-meeting was held in December 1916. By January 1918, strikes were breaking out, calling for an end of the war, the Social Democrats wanted a new form of government and, on 12 November 1918, the republic was proclaimed by Renner. Renners government introduced an eight-hour workday and paid holidays, the party had moderate success in the 1920s, but its conflict with right wing forces escalated until it was defeated in the Austrian Civil War. The first republic was founded on principles from Machiavellis The Prince. The SDAPÖ played an important role in the establishment of the First Republic, on November 11,1918, Emperor Charles I relinquished his right to take part in Austrian affairs of state. The following day Karl Renner was declared Chancellor of the Republic of German-Austria, the party clearly wanted to steer Austria towards political union with Germany, calling the new Austrian republic Deutsch-Österreich. But the Treaty of St. Germain clearly forbade any unification between Austria and Germany, the SDAPÖ nevertheless still advocated such a union during the existence of the First Republic, as they hoped for a strengthening of their position and the socialist cause within a Greater Germany
6.
Freedom Party of Austria
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The Freedom Party of Austria is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. The party, led by Heinz-Christian Strache, is a member of the Europe of Nations and Freedom group in the European Parliament, as well as of the Movement for a Europe of Nations, the partys first leader was Anton Reinthaller, a former Nazi functionary and SS officer. When Jörg Haider was chosen as new FPÖ leader in 1986 and this new political course soon resulted in a strong surge in electoral support, although it also led the SPÖ to break ties. In the 1999 legislative election the FPÖ won 26. 9% of the vote, its result in a nationwide election. This led the ÖVP to agree to form a government with the FPÖ in 2000. In 2005 increasing internal disagreements in the FPÖ led Haider and several leading members to defect and form the Alliance for the Future of Austria, since then, under Straches leadership, the party has again attracted an increase in its popular support. The FPÖ is a descendant of the pan-German and national liberal camp dating back to the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas, after a short civil war, the Federal State of Austria, an authoritarian Christian Social dictatorship, was established in 1934. Both Socialists and Christian Socials were persecuted under the Nazi regime, the VdU won 12% of the vote in the 1949 general election, but saw its support beginning to decline soon afterward. It evolved into the FPÖ by 1955/56 after merging with the minor Freedom Party in 1955, a new party was formed on 17 October 1955, the first FPÖ party leader was Anton Reinthaller, a former Nazi Minister of Agriculture and SS officer. He had been asked by ÖVP Chancellor Julius Raab to take over the movement rather than let it be led by a more socialist-leaning group. While the majority of former Nazis had probably joined the two parties in absolute numbers, they formed a greater percentage of FPÖ members due to the partys small size. Nevertheless, none of them were real revolutionaries and they pursued pragmatic, the ÖVP and the FPÖ ran a joint candidate for the 1957 presidential election, who lost. Reinthaller was replaced as leader in 1958 by Friedrich Peter, who led the party through the 1960s and 1970s, in 1966 the ÖVP-SPÖ Grand Coalition which had governed Austria since the war was broken, when the ÖVP gained enough votes to govern alone. In 1967 the more extreme faction in the FPÖ broke away and established the National Democratic Party, under the influence of Kreisky, a new generation of liberals brought the FPÖ into the Liberal International in 1978. During the years under Peter the party never won more than 8% of the vote in general elections. Liberal Norbert Steger was chosen as new FPÖ party leader in 1980, in an effort to gain popularity and his vision was to transform the FPÖ into an Austrian version of the German Free Democratic Party, focusing on free-market and anti-statist policies. In the 1980s, the Austrian political system began to change, the dominance of the SPÖ and ÖVP started to erode, SPÖ leader Bruno Kreisky had encouraged the FPÖs move to the centre, in order to establish an SPÖ-FPÖ alliance against the ÖVP. The 1983 general election was a watershed, the SPÖ lost its majority in Parliament
7.
Proportional representation
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Proportional representation characterizes electoral systems by which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the support an particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result, not just a plurality, or a bare majority, Proportional representation requires the use of multiple-member voting districts, it is not possible using single-member districts alone. In fact, the most proportional representation is achieved when just one super-district is used, the two most widely used families of PR voting systems are party list PR and single transferable vote. Mixed member proportional representation, also known as the Additional Member System, is a hybrid Mixed Electoral System that uses party list PR as its proportional component, with party list PR, political parties define candidate lists and voters vote for a list. The relative vote for each list determines how many candidates from each list are actually elected, lists can be closed or open, open lists allow voters to indicate individual candidate preferences and vote for independent candidates. Voting districts can be small or as large as a province or an entire nation, the single transferable vote uses small districts, with voters ranking individual candidates in order of preference. During the count, as candidates are elected or eliminated, surplus or discarded votes that would otherwise be wasted are transferred to other candidates according to the preferences, STV enables voters to vote across party lines and to elect independent candidates. Voters have two votes, one for their district and one for the party list, the party list vote determining the balance of the parties in the elected body. Biproportional apportionment, first used in Zurich in 2006, is a method for adjusting an elections result to achieve overall proportionality. Some form of representation is used for national lower house elections in 94 countries, party list PR. As with all systems, there are overlapping and contentious claims in terms of its advantages and disadvantages. But does it follow that the minority should have no representatives at all, is it necessary that the minority should not even be heard. Nothing but habit and old association can reconcile any reasonable being to the needless injustice, in a really equal democracy, every or any section would be represented, not disproportionately, but proportionately. A majority of the electors would always have a majority of the representatives, man for man, they would be as fully represented as the majority. Unless they are, there is not equal government, many academic political theorists agree with Mill, that in a representative democracy the representatives should represent all segments of society. The established parties in UK elections can win formal control of the parliament with as little as 35% of votes, in Canada, majority governments are regularly formed by parties with the support of under 40% of votes cast. Coupled with turnout levels in the electorate of less than 60%, in the 2005 general election, for example, the Labour Party under Tony Blair won a comfortable parliamentary majority with the votes of only 21. 6% of the total electorate
8.
States of Austria
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Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder. Since Land is also the German word for country, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity, the Constitution of Austria uses both terms. In English, the land is commonly rendered as state or province. The other five states, in contrast, are located in the Alps and their terrain is also relatively unfavourable to heavy industry and long-distance trade. Accordingly, the population of what now is the Republic of Austria has been concentrated in the four states since prehistoric times. Austrias most densely populated state is the city-state of Vienna, the heart of what is Austrias only metropolitan area, Lower Austria ranks fourth with regard to population density even though containing Viennas suburbs, this is due to large areas of land being predominantly agricultural. The wealthy alpine state of Vorarlberg is something of a due to its small size, isolated location. The following ranked list of Austrian states cites official Statistik Austria population on 1 January 2015, areas are given in square kilometres, population density is expressed in inhabitants per square kilometre. For the purpose of the above list, a city is a community defined to be a city by Austrian law, many of Austrias cities have population figures on the order of ten thousand inhabitants, some are even smaller. Elections are held five years. The Landeshauptmann is always elected by the Landtag, meaning that it may be necessary to form a coalition in order to secure the election of a particular candidate. Vienna, the capital of Austria, plays a role as city and Bundesland, meaning that the mayor serves as governor. Austrian federalism is largely theoretical as the states are granted few legislative powers, there is also no judiciary of the Länder, since the federal constitution defines the judiciary as an exclusively federal matter. This centralisation follows a model where central power during the time of the empire was largely concentrated in Vienna. However, the governor is in charge of the administration of much of federal administrative law within the respective state. Furthermore, state competences include zoning laws, planning issues and public procurement on the regional level, Austrian Länder are endowed formally and practically with a much smaller degree of autonomy than American or German states. Even so, Austrians tend to identify passionately with their respective Land and it is not unheard of for Austrians to consider themselves, for instance, Tyrolean first, Austrian second. Salzburg is coterminous with the former Austro-Hungarian Duchy of Salzburg, also, the state of Vorarlberg had been a semi-autonomous part of the County of Tyrol since 1861
9.
Austrian Parliament Building
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The Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna is where the two houses of the Austrian Parliament conduct their sessions. The building is located on the Ringstraße boulevard in the first district Innere Stadt, near Hofburg Palace and it was built to house the two chambers of the Imperial Council, the bicameral legislature of the Cisleithanian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Since its construction, the Parliament Building has been the seat of two houses, and their successors—the National Council and the Federal Council —of the Austrian legislature. The foundation stone was laid in 1874, the building was completed in 1883, the architect responsible for its Greek Revival style was Theophil Hansen. He designed the building holistically, aiming to have each element harmonizing with all the others and he was therefore also responsible for the interior decoration, such as statues, paintings, furniture, chandeliers, and numerous other elements. Hansen was honored by Emperor Franz Joseph with the title of Freiherr after its completion, following heavy damage and destruction in World War II, most of the interior has been restored to its original splendour. The parliament building covers over 13,500 square meters, making it one of the largest structures on Ringstraße. It contains over one hundred rooms, the most important of which are the Chambers of the National Council, the Federal Council, the building also includes committee rooms, libraries, lobbies, dining rooms, bars and gymnasiums. The Parliament Building is the site of important state ceremonies, most notably the swearing-in ceremony of the President of Austria, the building is closely associated with the two parliamentary bodies, as is shown by the use of the term Hohes Haus as a metonym for Parliament. Parliamentary offices spill over into nearby buildings, such as the Palais Epstein, the constitution known as the February Patent promulgated in 1861 created an Imperial Council as an Austrian legislature, and a new building had to be constructed to house this constitutional organ. The original plan was to two separate buildings, one for the House of Lords and one for the House of Deputies. The precursor to the present building was the temporary House of Representatives, located on Währinger Straße and it was erected within six weeks in March and April 1861 according to plans designed by Ferdinand Fellner, a famous Austrian theatre architect. In its layout with a ramp and an area, the Abgeordnetenhaus was a model for the later Parliament Building. Completed on 25 April 1861 this temporary structure was opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, the site for the new building was on the city’s ancient fortifications and walls. In his famous decree Es ist Mein Wille of 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph I had laid down plans for the Ringstraße to replace the old city walls. The parliament building was supposed to feature prominently on the boulevard, in proximity to Hofburg Palace. An Imperial Commission was appointed to consider a design for a Parliament building, after studying rival proposals, the Imperial Commission chose the plan by Theophil Hansen, who could rely on his drafts for Zappeion Hall in Athens. Ministry of the Interior gave von Hansen the order to design the new Austrian parliament building, ground was broken in June 1874, the cornerstone has the date “2 September 1874“ etched into it
10.
Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
11.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
12.
Politics of Austria
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Governments, both local and federal, exercise executive power. Federal legislative power is vested both in the government and in the two chambers of parliament, the National Council and the Federal Council, since 1949 the conservative Austrian Peoples Party and the center-left Social Democratic Party of Austria have largely dominated the party-political landscape of Austria. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, the ethnically and culturally heterogeneous nation state of Austria is one of the many remnant states of Austria-Hungary, a vast multinational empire that ceased to exist in 1918. The Austrian Republic was preceded by a monarchy, whose legislative body was elected by, as The New York Times put it. Austrias first attempt at republican governance, after the fall of the monarchy in 1918, was hampered by the crippling economic costs of war reparations required by the victorious Allies. Austrias First Republic made some pioneering reforms in the 1920s, particularly in Vienna, however, the Republic gradually developed into an Austrofascist dictatorship between 1933-1934 under Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, whom Nazi party agents assassinated in 1934. The First Republic ended with invasion and annexation by Germany in 1938, following the defeat of Germany in 1945 Austria resumed its republican government. The beginning of the 21st century marked, for Austria, a half-century of a government under a constitutional federal republican system. It is governed according to the principles of democracy and the rule of law. The constitutional framework of the politics of Austria and the marrow of the practical implementation are widely agreed to be robust. Austrias constitution characterizes the republic as a federation consisting of nine autonomous federal states, both the federation and all its states have written constitutions defining them to be republican entities governed according to the principles of representative democracy. Austrias head of state is the Federal President, elected by popular vote for a term of six years, former president Heinz Fischer was elected for a second term on 25 April 2010. He will be replaced by President-elect Alexander Van der Bellen, who was elected on 4 December 2016, the office of the Federal President is largely ceremonial, although the constitution allows the president to dismiss the cabinet or to dissolve the National Council and call new elections. The Federal Chancellor is appointed by the Federal President, although he is head of government, he has no power to direct other members of the government. Following the Austrian National Council election of 2008 Social Democratic Party leader Werner Faymann was sworn in as Chancellor by President Heinz Fischer on 2 December 2008. The federal cabinet consists of the Federal Chancellor appointed by the president, the federal cabinet is answerable to the National Council and can be forced to resign by a motion of no confidence. The current cabinet, made up by the Social Democratic Party, the Parliament of Austria consists of two chambers. The National Council has 183 members, elected for a term by proportional representation
13.
Constitution of Austria
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The Austrian Federal Constitution is the body of all constitutional law of the Republic of Austria on the federal level. It is split up over many different acts and its centerpiece is the Federal Constitutional Law, which includes the most important federal constitutional provisions. Apart from the B-VG, there are a number of other constitutional acts. For example, the B-VG does not include a bill of rights, over time, both the B-VG and the numerous pieces of constitutional law supplementing it have undergone literally hundreds of minor and major amendments and revisions. The B-VG was based on a draft by Hans Kelsen and first enacted on October 1,1920. Since political agreement over a bill of rights could not be reached, originally, the B-VG was very parliamentarian in character. The prerogative to enact law was to lie with a strong parliament. The responsibility for implementing law was to reside with a cabinet headed by a chancellor, a relatively weak president, who was elected by both houses, was to serve as head of state. In 1929, the constitution underwent a revision significantly broadening the prerogatives of the president, in particular, the president from then on was to be elected directly by the people rather than by the members of the legislature. The president was also to be vested with the authority to dissolve the parliament and he also had the authority to formally appoint the chancellor and the cabinet. Although the president was vested with powers comparable to those of the President of the United States, the Austrofascist constitution was in force until Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, ceasing to exist as a sovereign state. The Constitution of Austria was eventually reinstated on May 1,1945, the modifications enacted in 1929 were not then rescinded, and essentially remain in effect until this day, although the constitution has been heavily modified and amended since then. In area, the Republic of Austria is slightly smaller than Maine, Scotland, or Hokkaidō and home to an ethnically and culturally homogeneous population of eight and a half million people. Given that more than one fifth of its inhabitants are concentrated in the city of Vienna and its suburbs, the state constitutions congruently define the states to be unicameral parliamentary democracies, each state has a legislature elected by popular vote and a cabinet appointed by its legislature. The federal constitution defines Austria itself as a parliamentary democracy with near-complete separation of powers. Austrias government structure is highly similar to that of incomparably larger federal republics such as Germany or the United States. This is also true for the system, which is exclusively federal in Austria. Federal legislative powers are vested with a body the constitution refers to as a parliament, as a practical matter, however, it continues to function as a parliament anyway
14.
Taxation in Austria
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In Austria, the income tax for individuals in 2005 was progressively set up to 50% on a progressive schedule, Married people are taxed separately. Payroll withholding tax is in effect, taxes are levied on corporations, trade income, real estate, inheritance, dividends, gifts, and several miscellaneous services and properties. A value-added tax was introduced January 1,1973 at a rate of 16%. Capital gains and dividend income are taxed at 25% and are withheld at source, in accordance with EU guidelines, tax exemptions and reductions are included in incentive packages for investment in economically depressed and underdeveloped areas along Austria’s eastern border. The VAT is in 20% a standard rate
15.
Federal Assembly (Austria)
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The Federal Assembly is the name given to a formal joint session of the two houses of the bicameral Austrian Parliament, the National Council and the Federal Council. It is chaired by the presidents of the two parliamentary chambers taking turns presiding over its sessions, since 1945, the assembly has only met to swear the elected President of Austria into office. While during the pre-war First Austrian Republic, the Assembly convened to elect the Austrian president and this provision however did not become effective until 1951, when Theodor Körner became the first president directly elected by the Austrian people. Since then, the responsibility is to convene for the ceremonial swearing-in of the president. It recently met at the inauguration of Heinz Fischers second term as Austrian President on 8 July 2010, the assent of the Assembly would also be required for the presidents immunity against criminal prosecution to be withdrawn. Furthermore, it is responsible for declaring war. Neither of these powers, however, has so far been exercised
16.
Doris Bures
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Doris Bures is an Austrian politician. Since September 2014 she has been president of the National Council of Austria and she is also, with Norbert Hofer and Karlheinz Kopf, one of three who exercise collegially the powers of Federal president on 8 July 2016. Bures attended elementary school and a commercial school and she became a federal secretary of the International Union of Socialist Youth in 1980 and worked in a project with unemployed young people between 1985 and 1986. Between 1988 and 1994 Bures was employed as secretary in a social democratic organisation in Vienna. Afterwards Bures was Bundesgeschäftsführerin of the SPÖ between 2000 and 2007 and also 2008, Bures started her political career as a district councillor in Wien-Liesing between 1987 and 1990. She has been deputy to the party leader in the district of Liesing since 1995 and was chairwoman of the SPÖ-women in Liesing between 2000 and 2006. Bures was a member of the National Council of Austria between 5 November 1990 and 15 January 2007, and between 3 July 2008 and 2 December 2008. She served as a minister without portfolio in the Gusenbauer cabinet between 11 January 2007 and 28 February 2007, and was Minister for Women, Media, since 2 December 2008 Bures has served as Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology. In September 2014 she was elected President of the National Council, alexander Van der Bellen was elected President on 4 December 2016, receiving support from 53. 3% of voters and defeating Hofer. Hofer, Bures, and Kopf remained as joint acting President until Van der Bellen was sworn into office in January 2017
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President of Austria
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The President of Austria is the federal head of state of Austria. The President of Austria is directly elected by adult suffrage once in every six years. The Presidents offices are located in the Leopoldine Wing of the Hofburg Imperial Palace, many presidents have gained tremendous popularity while in office, and no incumbent has ever lost a bid for re-election, although Kurt Waldheim did not run for a second term in office. Five presidents have died in office, from 2004 to 2016, the office was occupied by social democrat Heinz Fischer. The empire noticeably began to fracture in late 1917 and manifestly disintegrated into a number of independent nation states over the course of the following year, as chairman, he also became a member of the Austrian State Council. On 12 November 1918, the State Council collectively assumed the functions of head of state according to a resolution of the National Assembly, on 11 November, Emperor Karl I announced I relinquish every participation in the administration of the State. Likewise I have released the members of the Austrian Government from their offices, the next day, parliament proclaimed the Republic of German Austria. The assembly presidents continued to serve as acting heads of state until 4 March 1919, anton David and Seitz were the presidents of the National Constituent Assembly. Austrias first Bundespräsident proper thus was Michael Hainisch, Karl Seitz immediate successor, in a related note, many popular sources quote some more or less random date between October 1918 and March 1919 as the beginning of Seitz tenure. The constitution originally defined Austria to be a parliamentary republic, originally, the constitution was radically parliamentarian in character. The bicameral parliament, called the Federal Assembly, not only possessed legislative power, the cabinet was appointed by the National Council rather than the president, who in turn was elected by the both houses of the Federal Assembly rather than the people. The presidents term of office was four rather than six years, the president was answerable to the Federal Assembly and, in particular, had no authority to dissolve the National Council. Not even having much influence on the appointment of Constitutional Court justices. The role and nature of the President was the result of a compromise reached during the drafting of the constitution and it was under this constitutional framework that Michael Hainisch and Wilhelm Miklas assumed office on 9 December 1920 and 10 December 1928, respectively. The parliamentary system prescribed by the constitution was highly unpopular, however, the Heimwehr was in favor of a system granting more powers to the president. On 7 December 1929, under growing pressure from the Heimwehr and it also called for the office to be filled by popular vote for a term of six years. The first election was scheduled for 1934, however, owing to the growing worldwide financial crisis, all parties agreed to suspend the election in favour of having Miklas reelected by parliament. Though Austria now was a dictatorship in all but name, power was concentrated in the hands of the Chancellor, Wilhelm Miklas was stripped of the powers hed gained in 1929, but agreed to act as a figurehead of institutional continuity anyway
18.
Alexander Van der Bellen
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Alexander Van der Bellen is an Austrian politician and economist who is the 12th President of Austria since 26 January 2017. He was a professor of economics at the University of Vienna before he entered national politics, on 4 December 2016, he won the ensuing election, taking approximately 54% of the vote. Van der Bellen has described himself as a centrist liberal and supports green, as discussed in his 2015 book, he is supportive of the European Union and advocates European federalism. During the presidential election, he appealed to the centre and was endorsed by the leaders of both the conservative Austrian Peoples Party and the Social Democratic Party. Van der Bellen is the second president of a European Union country. Van der Bellen, who is known privately by the nickname Sascha, was born in Vienna, the son of Alexander Konstantin and his father was an aristocratic Russian-born banker of Baltic German, Russian German, Dutch, and Estonian descent, while his mother was Estonian. In Russia, the family was recognised as noble in the early 19th century, the surname was spelled von der Bellen in Imperial Russia, with von der being a nobiliary particle. In 1931, Van der Bellens divorced father married Estonian native Alma Siebold and he acquired naturalised Estonian citizenship in 1934. After Estonia was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1940, the fled to Germany. They eventually settled in Vienna, where Van der Bellen was born, before fleeing the approaching Red Army in 1945 and arriving in Tyrol. He has described himself as a child of refugees, for practical purposes the Van der Bellen family was stateless following the Soviet occupation of Estonia. Together with his parents Van der Bellen was granted Austrian citizenship in 1958, although his parents spoke Russian with each other, Van der Bellen only learned a few words in the language. He explained that his parents wanted to avoid everything that indicated that they were refugees, in 1962, he graduated from the Akademisches Gymnasium in Innsbruck. He studied economics at the University of Innsbruck and received a doctorate in 1970 and he obtained his habilitation in economics in 1975. In 1976, he was appointed professor at the University of Innsbruck. In 1980, he became professor of economics at the University of Vienna, subsequently, he took over the chair for economics there. From 1990 to 1994 he was dean of the faculty for social sciences, a former member of the Social Democratic Party, Van der Bellen became Member of the National Council of Austria for the Austrian Green Party in 1994. On 13 December 1997 he became their spokesperson, and in 1999 became chairman of the Greens Parliamentary Party in the National Council
19.
Chancellor of Austria
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The Federal Chancellor is the head of government of Austria. In his capacity as chairman of the Austrian Federal Government, the chancellor represents the federal authority of the executive branch. Though formally a member of the cabinet, the Chancellor is considered to be the most powerful position in Austrian politics. His official seat is in the Federal Chancellery, the current Chancellor is Christian Kern of the Social Democratic Party, who was sworn into office on 17 May 2016. The task was fulfilled by the Prince-Archbishops of Mainz as Archchancellors of the German lands. These were also the times when attempts were made to balance Imperial absolutism by the creation of Imperial Governments, ultimately a failure. Beside a Bohemian and Hungarian chancellery, he created the office of an Austrian chancellor in Vienna, responsible for the Archduchy of Austria proper with the Inner Austrian territories, under Emperor Leopold I the term again became Hofkanzler with Johann Paul Freiherr von Hocher, and Theodor von Strattman. He was succeeded by Johann Philipp von Cobenzl, who was dismissed by Emperor Francis II over the Partition of Poland and was succeeded by Johann Amadeus Francis de Paula. With the consequent dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and founding of the Austrian Empire, Francis II abdicated the former Imperial Throne, Prince Klemens von Metternich was appointed by Francis I to the positions of Hofkanzler and Staatskanzler. However, there is some opinion that the Chancellor title was not used between Prince Kaunitz-Rietbergs resignation in 1792 and 1821, as the Metternich system had become a synonym for his reactionary politics, the title of a State Chancellor was abolished upon the 1848 revolutions. With the enactment of the Constitution of Austria on 10 November 1920, the Chancellor is appointed and sworn in by the President. In theory, the President can appoint anyone eligible to be elected to the National Council, in practice, a Chancellor is unable to govern unless he or she commands the confidence of the National Council. For this reason, the Chancellor is usually the leader of the largest party in the National Council, a notable exception to this occurred after the 1999 election. The Freedom Party won the most seats and went into coalition with the Peoples Party, while this would have normally made Freedom Party leader Jorg Haider Chancellor, he was deemed too controversial to be a member of the Cabinet, let alone Chancellor. He thus stepped aside in favour of Peoples Party leader Wolfgang Schüssel, the Chancellor has no term limits. As a matter of convention, the Chancellor usually offers his or her resignation to the President upon dissolution of the National Council. The President usually declines and directs the Chancellor and his or her cabinet to operate as a government until a new National Council is in session. In fact, the constitution expressly encourages the President to use a Chancellor as his or her own interim successor, a Chancellor is typically appointed or dismissed together with his or her ministers
20.
Sebastian Kurz
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Sebastian Kurz is an Austrian politician, who has been Austrias Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration since 2013. He had been described as the youngest Minister for Foreign Affairs and integration throughout the world and European history and he is a member of the Austrian Peoples Party. Kurz was born in Vienna and brought up in the city district of Meidling and he entered the Bundesgymnasium und Bundesrealgymnasium Erlgasse in 1996 and after his final exam in 2004 Kurz completed the obligatory military service. In 2011, he decided to suspend his law studies at the University of Vienna, in 2009 Kurz was elected chairman of the youth branch of the Austrian Peoples Party. Between 2010 and 2011 he was member of Viennas city council, in April 2011 Kurz was appointed to the newly created post of State Secretary for Integration. In the 2013 general election, Kurz was elected as a member of parliament and he won the most direct votes of any member of parliament in the election. In December 2013, Kurz became Austrias Foreign Minister, whose portfolio was at his request widened to include Social integration. At the time of his swearing-in Kurz was Austrias youngest government minister since the foundation of the republic and the youngest foreign minister in the European Union and the world. His first trip abroad took Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz to Croatia, in February 2014, Sebastian Kurz hosted the first of several rounds of negotiations on the nuclear program of Iran in Vienna, strengthening Austria’s position as place of dialogue. The negotiations were concluded on 14 July 2015, when the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed by Iran, the P5+1. During his first year in office, Kurz chaired the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe until May 2014, in late 2014, he succeeded Radosław Sikorski as co-chair of the European People’s Party Foreign Ministers Meeting, alongside Elmar Brok. In November 2014, Sebastian Kurz was appointed to lead the European Peoples Party Foreign Affairs Ministers together with Elmar Brok, Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee in the EP. In 2015, Sebastian Kurz proposed a new Islamgesetz illegalizing foreign funding of mosques and paying salaries of imams and it however also gives Muslims additional rights, such as the rights to halal food and pastoral care in the military. Sebastian Kurz said the changes were intended to combat the influence of radical Islam in Austria. The law was passed by the Austrian parliament in February 2015, as part of the Humanitarian Initiative, Kurz hosted the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in late 2014. Following his proposal, Vienna later hosted the leading to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for the nuclear program of Iran in 2015. List of foreign ministers in 2017 List of current foreign ministers Personal Website
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Vice-Chancellor of Austria
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In Austrian politics, the Vice-Chancellor is a member of the Federal Government acting as a deputy to the Federal Chancellor. 69 of the Constitution of Austria states, The Vice-Chancellor stands in for the Federal Chancellor in his field of functions. If both Federal Chancellor and Vice Chancellor are hindered, the Federal President appoints a member of the government to represent the Federal Chancellor, in practice, the Vice-Chancellor is normally the leading member of the junior party within the current coalition government, frequently the party chairman. If only one party is represented in the government, the Vice Chancellor is often the Chancellors presumed successor
22.
Heinz-Christian Strache
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Heinz-Christian Strache is an Austrian right-wing politician, a member of parliament and former member of the Vienna city council, who has been Chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria since 2005. He prefers to call himself just HC Strache, Strache, who by training is a dental technician, has been active in the politics of Vienna since 1991. In 2004, he replaced Hilmar Kabas as the leader of the Vienna FPÖ and he had been considered a disciple of long-time national party leader Jörg Haider, but began to oppose him as the result of increased strife within the party in January 2005. After a series of losses in elections, rumours spread that Strache would run for the office of national party leader against Haiders sister. The high risk of Haubners defeat was one of the events that induced Haider to set up a new party. After the split, Strache was elected party leader of the FPÖ on 23 April 2005. Since the split, the FPÖs results in elections have been mixed. While it dropped out of the Styria Landtag and was reduced to 5. 7% in Burgenland, Strache himself was the leading candidate in Vienna, and the party received 14. 9% of votes. Straches campaign, included such as, Wien darf nicht Istanbul werden. A variation on an FPÖ slogan from the Haider era, Wien darf nicht Chicago werden, daham statt Islam Deutsch statt nix verstehen Pummerin statt Muezzin. Pummerin is the bell in St. Stephans Cathedral in Vienna. His support was strongest among young people under 35, the campaign included slogans such as, Zu viel Fremdes tut niemandem gut. Die SPÖ macht sie uns fremd
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Government of Austria
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The Austrian Federal Government is a collective body that exercises executive power in the Republic of Austria. It is composed of the Chancellor, who is leader of the government, the Vice-Chancellor, the President and the Government together form the executive branch of Austria. The nominations of the takes place at the suggestion of the Chancellor. Likewise, the President may dismiss the Chancellor and/or the whole government at any time, however, a new government must be formed by the parties that control parliament. The government is convened for frequently scheduled meetings, when formally convened as such, the government is termed the Council of Ministers, which is equivalent to the word cabinet. Each federal minister is responsible for his or her own ministry, and may be supported by one or more state secretaries. State secretaries are not considered members of the government, and have no right to vote during cabinet meetings, the incumbent government of Austria is a grand coalition government formed by the left-wing Social Democratic Party of Austria and the right-wing Austrian Peoples Party. Most of the ministers kept their job, however, some decided to step down or were replaced, the Renner ministry was composed of representatives of the three main political parties—Social Democrats, the Christian Social Party and German Nationalists —according to the Proporz doctrine. State Chancellor Renner had signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, whereafter his cabinet retired en bloc, re-elected by the Constitutional Assembly on 17 October 1919, his third cabinet finally was overturned with the break-up of the SPÖ-CS coalition on 7 July 1920. Renner was succeeded by the Christian Social politician Michael Mayr, who with the commencement of the Austria Constitution on 10 November 1920 became first Federal Chancellor of Austria. Mayr and his successors proceeded with the support of the Christian Social Party, from 5 March 1933 onwards, the Christian Social chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß kept on ruling by suppression of the National Council parliament. In the course of the Austrian Civil War he brought down the opposition and on 1 May 1934 implemented the authoritarian Federal State of Austria, all parties were banned, except for the Fatherlands Front supporting Dollfuß Austrofascist government. The Federal Government discontinued with the Anschluss incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany on 13 March 1938, on 27 April 1945 a provisional Austrian national unity government, again under a State Chancellor Karl Renner, declared the Anschluss null and void. It prepared the The elections to the Austrian National Council held on 25 November, on 20 December 1945, the Austrian Constitution was officially re-enacted, with ÖVP founder Leopold Figl forming the first post-war Federal Government. List of cabinets since 1945, Austrian Federal Government
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Constitutional Court (Austria)
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The Constitutional Court, is one of three judicial bodies charged with final appellate jurisdiction in Austria. The VfGH was established in 1920 and is one of the oldest constitutional courts in the world, the VfGH was the successor to the older Imperial Law Court. The Constitutional Court deals with law, while the Administrative Court deals with public law. These three courts are hierarchically on the level, with no superiority or subordination between them, except in certain procedural contexts. On deciding conflicts between the highest courts, calculating the Constitutional Court itself, and on deciding on State liability claims in regard to decisions of the highest courts, calculating the Constitutional Court itself. The Constitutional Court consists of twenty judges, a president, a president, twelve other judges. The president and vice president of the court, as well as half of the further members, by convention, candidates are effectively selected by each of the two main political parties—the SPÖ and the ÖVP—maintaining a rough political balance on the court. Historically, university professors made up most of the members of the court, to be eligible for appointment, a prospective judge must have ten years of legal expedience. The judges of the Constitutional Court serve for life but judges must retire at the end of the year in which they turn 70 years old
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Supreme Court (Austria)
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The Supreme Court is one of three judicial bodies charged with final appellate jurisdiction in Austria. Whereas the Constitutional Court deals with law and the Supreme Administrative Court with public law. These three Courts are hierarchically on the level, there being no superiority or subordination between them. The Court meets in the Palace of Justice in Vienna, the Austrian Supreme Court was established in the course of the March Revolution by ministerial decree on 21 August 1848. The Court received its organisational structure by edict of Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1850 and it then had jurisdiction over all crown lands of the Austrian Empire. The Basic Law on the Judiciary stipulated the separation of administration and judiciary, from 1865 to 1891, the liberal statesman Anton von Schmerling served as court president. Important legal reforms included the criminal code of 1873 and the implementation of the Civil procedure code in 1895, the political turmoils during the inter-war period culminated in the Vienna Palace of Justice fire on 15 July 1927, whereby large parts of the building were devastated. During the Austrian Anschluss to Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945, after World War II the Austrian sovereign statehood was restored and the Supreme Court re-established. Since 1969 its jurisdiction is exercised on the basis of the Federal Supreme Court Act. Courts in Austria Supreme Court of Justice official website
26.
Elections in Austria
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This article provides information on elections and election results in Austria. On a federal level, there are two elections, for head of state every six years, and for the 183 seats of the National Council every five years by proportional representation. From 1945 to 1986 Austria had two parties, with a third party also winning seats in the National Council. Since 1986 there have been generally four parties, for a few years even five, at least 4% of the popular vote, or a parliamentary seat in one of the regional constituencies, is needed for representation in the National Council. In some cases, a referendum can be called on by the Austrian Parliament, in 2007, the voting age was lowered from 18 to 16 in all federal elections, following some states which had lowered it for state and local elections before that. Austrian citizens who are 16 years or older may stand at elections, additionally citizens of European Union member states with a permanent residence in Austria may vote at European Union and municipal elections. Citizens who are sentenced to more than one year of imprisonment lose their voting rights, an exception to the rule is the presidential election, where the minimum age to stand as candidate is 35. Until 2011, members of current or former ruling houses were ineligible for the office, Austrian constitution defines two types of referendums on the federal level, binding referendum and non-binding referendum. Binding referendum is mandatory, if the President should be removed from office before the end of his term, binding referendum is facultative in case of non-comprehensive changes in the Federal Constitution. Such facultative referendum is to be conducted if at least one third of the members of the National Council or the Federal Council requests it, the National Council has the power to call on a non-binding referendum on matters of great importance. Such referendum is called by majority of members of the National Council, results of such a referendum are advisory. There was one referendum in post-1945 Austria, the conscription referendum in 2013 The no option won
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Austrian legislative election, 2008
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A legislative snap election for the National Council in Austria was held on 28 September 2008. The previous election was held on 1 October 2006, the election was caused by the withdrawal of Austrian Peoples Party leader Wilhelm Molterer from the governing grand coalition on 7 July 2008. The result of the election was seen as strong for the far-right, shortly after the election, BZÖ leader and Carinthian governor Jörg Haider died in a car accident. Leading candidates On 11 January 2007, the Gusenbauer cabinet was sworn into office, the SPÖ began to fall back in the polls almost immediately. The coalition partners also disagreed on the necessary health system reform. Following this, internal criticism within the SPÖ of Gusenbauer grew, according to the plans at that time, Gusenbauer would have remained the leading candidate in the 2010 elections. On 7 July 2008, ÖVP leader Wilhelm Molterer declared that he could not continue to work with the SPÖ, the term of the legislature was the third-shortest in Austrian history. Another change was that different list names in the different states were no longer possible, postal balloting was expected to make up 7%–8% of the total vote, due to postal votes, the final result of the election would not be known until a week after the elections. 9. 27% of the voters had requested postal ballots, which meant that postal ballots could decisively change the election outcome, another part of the 2007 electoral reform was that it was now possible to accommodate election observers in the election process. -Ing. Karlheinz Klement The previous records had been achieved in the 1994 election, analysts agreed that apart from LIF and FRITZ, all others would fail to enter parliament. Following the announcement that Haider would return to politics, analysts held different opinions on the likely effects of this change. The race for third place between the Greens and the FPÖ was seen to be balanced or slightly in favour of the Greens, stadler confirmed that this was the goal of the BZÖ. Strache explicitly ruled out such an alliance on 7 September 2008, the FPÖ was seen as strongly increasing their share of the votes when compared to the 2006 election and the BZÖ was seen as having secured its stay in the National Council. The Greens were seen to be stagnating, while the parties faced difficulties with entering parliament, with the chances of LIF. Only four possible coalitions were seen as likely to have a majority after the election, SPÖ–ÖVP, ÖVP–FPÖ–BZÖ, SPÖ–GRÜNE–BZÖ and SPÖ–FPÖ–BZÖ, all, for the first time in the history of Austrian elections, there were different ballots in all nine states. The ballots featured parliamentary parties in the order of votes received in the last election, i. e. SPÖ, ÖVP, Greens, FPÖ. The longest ballots could be found in Carinthia and Vienna, which broke the record of eleven lists with twelve lists. Burgenland, Salzburg, Tyrol and Upper Austria had eleven lists, National candidate lists had to be submitted by 8 September 2008 and were published on [12 September 2008 in the Wiener Zeitung, all lists except STARK and Klement submitted national candidate lists
28.
Austrian legislative election, 2013
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Legislative elections were held in Austria on 29 September 2013. All 183 seats in the National Council will be filled, with MPs elected by party-list proportional representation, the government is a grand coalition between Austrias two largest parties, the SPÖ and ÖVP, who rule with the SPÖs Werner Faymann as Chancellor. Support for both governing parties has fallen marginally since the 2008 election, additionally, nine of the BZÖs 21 elected members to the National Council changed their party affiliation during the term, five members joined the Team Stronach, while four joined the FPÖ. Team Stronach, funded by Austrian-Canadian businessman Frank Stronach, has emerged as an anti-euro alternative, the Greens have solidified their position as the fourth-largest party in opinion polls.600 valid signatures from eligible voters ahead of the election. Parties can also contest the election in individual states only, the state and federal election commissions will validate the signatures and announce the qualified parties on August 8. Issues included corruption scandals across the main parties and Austrias relative financial stability facing a probable crisis, the losses for the government parties resulted in strong gains for the far right, the election was seen as strong for the far-right and in support of Eurosceptics. In contrast, the former leading party BZÖ came fifth, with their share falling from 38. 5% to 10. 8%. However, in Styria the FPÖ came first with 24. 0%, in the other states no major changes of the leading party occurred. The grand coalition of SPÖ and ÖVP have retained their majority, while the SPÖ are keen to renew the coalition, the ÖVP are also considering the possibility of a coalition with the FPÖ and another smaller party. On October 14, the SPÖ and the ÖVP agreed to start talks with each other. On December 16, the second Faymann cabinet was formed
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Austrian presidential election, 2004
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Presidential elections were held in Austria on 25 April 2004. While the post of President of Austria is a ceremonial one. The victorious candidate was Heinz Fischer of the opposition Social Democratic Party of Austria and he defeated Benita Ferrero-Waldner, foreign minister in the ruling conservative coalition led by the Austrian Peoples Party. The turnout of slightly above 70% of registered voters was considered low by Austrian standards, in the 2002 parliamentary elections the conservative parties received 52 percent of the votes, compared to 46 percent for the SPÖ and the Greens. In this election, however, many conservative voters stayed at home, the campaign started in January 2004 with the announcements of Ferrero-Waldner and Fischer that they would run. A notable exception was Franz Fiedler, head of the National Audit Office, in late February he announced that he was considering a candidacy, and that he had the support of important but unnamed politicians. Conventional wisdom held that he had no chance of getting a majority, but since his financial supporters were unwilling to reveal their names, he decided not to run. The first complaint before the panel was brought by the SPÖ, the panel decided that this was not fair according to community standards, but not specifically forbidden by the Fairness Pact. Both parties hailed this decision as a victory for their own side, later, both sides complained that the other side had given out presents of tangible value at rallies, the panel refused to consider these claims. Fischers campaign praised their candidates experience as President of the Parliament, his expertise in constitutional law, ferreros campaign suggested that as a dedicated socialist Fischer might not always show the neutrality required from a Federal President. Ferreros campaign pointed to her connections, her language abilities. In the beginning of the campaign, polls suggested a 15% lead for Fischer, during the campaign Ferrero narrowed the margin, Austrian Ministry of Interior, results https, //web. archive. org/web/20040417104918/http, //www. benita-ferrero-waldner. at, 80/ http, //www. heinzfischer. at/
30.
Austrian presidential election, 2010
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The Austrian presidential election took place on 25 April 2010. It was the election of an Austrian head of state since 1951. The candidates were President Heinz Fischer, Barbara Rosenkranz and Rudolf Gehring, Heinz Fischer won with just under 80% of the valid votes. The turnout was on the low of about 54%. Incumbent President Heinz Fischer announced on 23 November 2009 that he seek a second term. According to a 27 June 2009, Gallup poll for the newspaper Österreich, there were rumours that the candidate of the Austrian Peoples Party would be either Governor of Lower Austria Erwin Pröll or president of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Christoph Leitl. On 13 October 2009 Pröll announced that he would not run for the Presidency, Leitl and former governor of Styria Waltraud Klasnic also declined a presidential run. On 25 February 2010, the Peoples Party announced that it would not nominate a candidate, the Freedom Party announced in June 2009 that it would definitely field a candidate to prevent Fischer. Possible candidates mentioned included Martin Graf, Norbert Steger, Siegfried Dillersberger, Norbert Gugerbauer, Dieter Böhmdorfer, after the Carinthian branch of the Alliance for the Future of Austria broke away to re-unite with the Freedom Party, it was rumoured that Barbara Rosenkranz would be their candidate. In early January 2010, Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party, on 28 February 2010, Strache announced in the Kronen Zeitung that the Freedom Party would nominate Barbara Rosenkranz as its presidential candidate. On 17 August, Haider announced that she would not run for president, on 26 February 2010, Bucher said that he might run as a candidate for his party, because he could appeal to voters. On 1 March 2010, the Alliance announced that Bucher would not stand as a candidate, as the odds were clearly against him and they did not want to waste taxpayers money. It was expected that former Green Party leader Alexander Van der Bellen might stand in the election, in June 2009, however, Green party leader Eva Glawischnig stated that the Greens were considering fielding a candidate, and that Van der Bellen would be a very good candidate. By November 2009, there was no clear decision from the Greens. On 25 February 2010, the Greens announced they wanted to concentrate on state elections, the Christian Party nominated its chairman Rudolf Gehring as a presidential candidate. On 25 March 2010, they announced they had gathered the necessary signatures to run for president. A former judge from eastern Styria, Martin Wabl, who had previously tried to run for president. Bernhard Gregor Honemann also planned to run, none of these candidates obtained the 6000 signatures necessary to run for president
31.
European Parliament election, 2014 (Austria)
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The 2014 European Parliament election was held on 25 May 2014 in Austria. As a result of the Lisbon Treaty Austria held 19 seats in the European Parliament, three Members of the European Parliament decided to stand in the election again, but not for their original parties. They are Martin Ehrenhauser, Ewald Stadler and Angelika Werthmann, Ehrenhauser is now top candidate for the left-wing electoral alliance Europe Different, which includes the Communists and the Pirate Party. Stadler founded the eurosceptic Reform Conservatives, who intend to join the Europe of Freedom and she withdrew her NEOS-candidacy for the 2014 European election in January 2014. The Alliance for the Future of Austria initially planned to field Ulrike Haider-Quercia, daughter of the party founder Jörg Haider. She withdrew on 8 April, complaining that the party would not accept her independent policy, instead of her, the BZÖs new top candidate is Angelika Werthmann. She was also excluded from the liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament after joining the BZÖ, the new liberal party NEOS is contesting the election. Angelika Mlinar was elected as its top candidate after its caucus in February 2014, team Stronach, another successful new party in the 2013 national election, announced on 8 April 2014 that they would not contest the election. On 25 March 2014 MEP Hans-Peter Martin, the leader of Hans-Peter Martins List, a small party called EU-STOP also managed to collect the 2600 signatures necessary to be included on the election ballot. Their main goal is Austrias exit from the EU resulting in a neutral and self-determined country. There were 9 parties contesting the election,3,322,498 women and 3,088,104 men were eligible to vote. Included in these totals are 34,773 Austrians living abroad and 33,184 foreign EU-citizens living in Austria, poll opening and closing times on election day were set individually by each municipality. Poll closing times can be no later than 5pm, voters who so chose were allowed to cast their vote either by absentee ballot or postal ballot. Postal ballots had to arrive at the voting commission no later than 5pm on election day. Before the 2009 election,309,200 voters requested absentee or postal ballots, for the 2014 election, the number was 444,057
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