1.
Lower house
–
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position below the house, in many legislatures worldwide. A legislature composed of one house is described as unicameral. In comparison with the house, lower houses frequently display certain characteristics, Powers In a parliamentary system, Much more power. Able to override the upper house in some ways, can vote a motion of no confidence against the government. In a presidential system, Somewhat less power, as the house alone gives advice. Given the sole power to impeach the executive Status Always elected directly, while the house may be elected directly, indirectly. Its members may be elected with a different voting system to the upper house, most populated administrative divisions are better represented than in the upper house, representation is usually proportional to population. Elected all at once, not by staggered terms, in a parliamentary system, can be dissolved by the executive. Has total or original control over budget and monetary laws, lower age of candidacy than the upper house. Many lower houses are named in the manner, House/Chamber of Representatives/the People/Commons/Deputies
2.
Austrian Parliament
–
The Austrian Parliament is the bicameral legislature in Austria. It consists of two chambers, the National Council and the Federal Council, in specific cases, both houses convene as the Federal Assembly. The legislature meets in the Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna, the National Council is composed of 183 members elected through proportional representation in a general election. The legislative period lasts five years, elections are held if the National Council prematurely moves for its own dissolution. The National Council is the dominant house in the Austrian Parliament, the Federal Council is elected indirectly, through the provincial assemblies of the nine States of the Federal Republic, and reflects the distribution of seats in the Austrian Landtage. The states are represented in the Federal Council roughly in accordance to the size of their populations, seats are redistributed among the states following each general census, and the overall size of the chamber varies slightly as a result. The current Federal Council is composed of 61 delegates, with regard to most issues, the Federal Council only possesses a dilatory right of veto which can be overridden by the National Council. However, the Federal Council enjoys absolute veto powers over bills intended to alter the powers of either the states, the Federal Assembly is a body whose function is mostly ceremonial in nature, and consists of the members of both houses of Parliament. The Federal Assembly convenes only rarely, for instance to witness the inauguration of the Federal President and it might be noted, however, that under exceptional circumstances the Austrian constitution endows the Federal Assembly with significant responsibilities. An example of this would be its pivotal role in the impeachment of a Federal President. Both houses of Parliament, as well as the Federal Assembly, constitution of Austria Austrian Parliament Building Imperial Council Imperial Diet The Austrian Parliament - Official Homepage
3.
Austrian People's Party
–
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
4.
Doris Bures
–
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
5.
Social Democratic Party of Austria
–
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
–
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
–
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.
Next Austrian legislative election
–
The next Austrian legislative elections will be held in or before 2018. The leader of the strongest party in a formed coalition usually becomes Chancellor, the 183 members of the National Council are elected by closed list proportional representation in nine multi-member constituencies based on the states and 39 sub-constituencies. Seats are allocated using the Hare method at the sub-constituency level, social Democratic Party of Austria Austrian Peoples Party Freedom Party of Austria The Greens – The Green Alternative Team Stronach NEOS – The New Austria
9.
Austrian Parliament Building
–
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.
Innere Stadt
–
The Innere Stadt is the 1st municipal District of Vienna. The Innere Stadt is the Old Town of Vienna, until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna. Traditionally it was divided into four quarters, which were designated after important town gates, Stubenviertel, the Ringstraße circles the Innere Stadt along the route of the former city walls. The first district is, with a workforce of 100,745 and this is partially due to tourism, as well as the presence of many corporate headquarters due to the districts central location. Innere Stadt is the district of Vienna. It borders on Leopoldstadt in the northeast, on Landstraße in the east, on Wieden and Mariahilf in the south, on Neubau and Josefstadt in the west, before 1850, Innere Stadt was physically equivalent with the city of Vienna. See History of Vienna for details about the history of Vindobona and Vienna, although population has been increasing slightly since then, Innere Stadt continues to remain the least populated district in Vienna. In 2001,28. 1% of the population was over 60 years of age. The percentage of people under 15 years of age was 9. 8%, the female population of 53. 3% was also above city average. At 15. 5%, the percentage of residents in Innere Stadt was 2% under city average for the year 2001. 2. 8% of the population had EU Citizenship,2. 7% were citizens of Serbia and Montenegro, in total,25. 6% of the population were born in a foreign country. 79% of residents listed German as their language of choice,4. 0% spoke primarily Serbian,1. 8% Hungarian, and 1. 4% Croatian. Roman catholics made up 51. 3% of the Innere Stadt population in 2001, the Bezirksvorsteher has been a member of the conservative ÖVP party since 1946. Former Bezirksvorsteher Ursula Stenzel has spoken out against holding events in the inner city and her comments have drawn criticism from other parties, especially the social democratic SPÖ. The first districts coat of arms is a cross on a red background. It is also the coat of arms for the City of Vienna, the current coat of arms dates back to around 1270, when it first appeared on the minted Wiener Pfennige coins. It may have based on the flag of the King of the Romans forces during the Middle Ages. Bezirk - Innere Stadt, Wien. gv. at,2008, webpage, grabovszki, Ernst, Innere Stadt, Wien,1
11.
Vienna
–
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
12.
Austria
–
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
13.
German language
–
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
14.
Politics of Austria
–
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
15.
Federal Council (Austria)
–
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
16.
Constitution of Austria
–
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
17.
President of Austria
–
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
–
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
–
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
–
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
21.
Vice-Chancellor of Austria
–
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
–
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
23.
Government of Austria
–
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
24.
Landeshauptmann
–
Until 1933 the term was used in Prussia for the head of government of a province, in the modern-day states of Germany the counterpart to Landeshauptmann is here the Ministerpräsident. The Imperial-Royal government in Vienna was represented by a Statthalter or Landespräsident governor, the 1920 constitution of the First Austrian Republic unified the office of a Federal Government representative and head of the state government. The title is used in modern Austria as well as in South Tyrol and Trentino, autonomous provinces in Italy with strong linguistic. In the Czech Republic, a hejtman represents each of the 13 self-governing regions, the title was also used by the German Empire for governors during the early stages of its colonial rule over German South-West Africa, Togoland and German New Guinea. In modern Austria, the title is used for the head of the executive of the nine Austrian states, the Landeshauptmann is elected by the Landtag state parliament of the respective state and sworn in by the President of Austria. As representative of the state on state level he is also responsible for the enforcement of federal laws. The Mayor of Vienna also serves as a Landeshauptmann, elected by the municipal assembly, the head of government of South Tyrol is elected by the provincial Landtag legislature. The Landeshauptmann represents the province to the outside and in meetings of the regions with the Italian government and he is also entitled to attend the sessions of the Council of Ministers as far as South Tyrolean issues are discussed. His two deputies have to represent the Italian and German language group, from 1875 the territorial authority of the estates in the twelve administrative provinces of Prussia were re-organised as Provinzialverbände. Each of these bodies were represented in a Provinziallandtag assembly, whose members were delegated by the rural. The provincial administration was headed by a Landesdirektor, who was elected by the assembly for six-year terms. The holder of the office presided over the Provinzialausschuss, i. e, in the following decades, Landeshauptmann gradually replaced the earlier expression Landesdirektor in all but one of Prussias provinces. When the kingdom turned into a state in 1920, only the Landtag of Brandenburg had decided to keep the traditional expression. The head of government was given the title Landespräsident
25.
Federal Assembly (Austria)
–
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
26.
Distribution of seats in the Austrian Landtage
–
The Austrian Landtage are the unicameral legislatures of the nine Austrian states, according to the Constitution of Austria deciding in all matters unless explicitly subject of federal legislation. On federal level the Landtage are represented in the Federal Council, eight political parties are represented in the Landtage legislative assemblies. Currently the Austrian Peoples Party, the Social Democratic Party of Austria, the Freedom Party of Austria, the seats of ruling parties are in bold fonts. The state governments of Carinthia, Lower Austria and Upper Austria are formed according to the principle of proportional representation, the largest faction usually nominates the state governor
27.
Elections in Austria
–
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
28.
Austrian legislative election, 2008
–
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
29.
Austrian legislative election, 2013
–
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
30.
Austrian presidential election, 2004
–
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/
31.
Austrian presidential election, 2010
–
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
32.
European Parliament election, 2014 (Austria)
–
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
33.
States of Austria
–
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
34.
District (Austria)
–
In Austrian politics, a district is a second-level division of the executive arm of the countrys government. e. District administrative authorities that only exist as a role filled by something that primarily is a city. As of 2015, there are 95 districts,80 districts headed by district commissions and 15 statutory cities, many districts are geographically congruent with one of the countrys 116 judicial venues. Statutory cities are not usually referred to as districts outside of government publications, a district headed by a district commission typically covers somewhere between ten and thirty municipalities. As a purely administrative unit, a district does not hold elections, the district governor is appointed by the provincial governor, the district civil servants are province employees. In the provincial laws of Lower Austria and Vorarlberg, districts headed by district commissions are called administrative districts, in Burgenland, Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, Upper Austria, and Tyrol, the term used is political district. National law, including constitutional law, uses all three variants interchangeably. A statutory city is a city vested with both municipal and district administrative responsibility, town hall personnel also serves as district personnel, the mayor also discharges the powers and duties of a head of district commission. City management thus functions both as a government and a branch of the national government at the same time. Most of the 15 statutory cities are major population centers with residents numbering in the tens of thousands. The last community to have invoked this right is Wels, a city since 1964. As of 2014, ten other communities are eligible but not interested, the statutory city of Vienna, a community with well over 1.7 million residents, is divided into 23 municipal districts. Despite the similar name and the role they fill, municipal districts have a different legal basis than districts. The statutory cities of Graz and Klagenfurt also have referred to as municipal districts. Austria strictly speaking does not name districts but district administrative authorities, the German term for district commission and city, Bezirkshauptmannschaft and Stadt, respectively, is part of the official proper name of each such entity. This means that there can be pairs of districts whose two proper names contain the same toponym, several such pairs do in fact exist. There are, for example, two district administrative authorities sharing the toponym Innsbruck, the city of Innsbruck and the Innsbruck district commission. To avoid confusion, the names of the districts in these pairs are commonly rendered with the suffix -Land
35.
Foreign relations of Austria
–
The 1955 Austrian State Treaty ended the four-power occupation and recognized Austria as an independent and sovereign state. In October 1955, the Federal Assembly passed a law in which Austria declares of her own free will her perpetual neutrality. The second section of this law stated that in all future times Austria will not join any military alliances, since then, Austria has shaped its foreign policy on the basis of neutrality. Also in 1995, it joined the Partnership for Peace, discussion of possible Austrian NATO membership intensified during 1996. ÖVP and the Team Stronach aim at moving closer to NATO or a European defense arrangement, SPÖ and FPÖ, in turn, believe continued neutrality is the cornerstone of Austrias foreign policy, and a majority of the population generally supports this stance. In February 2000, Austrias foreign relations cooled down when the ÖVP formed a coalition with the FPÖ after the 1999 election, European governments imposed diplomatic sanctions, and the United States called home its ambassador. The diplomatic sanctions were lifted in September 2000, after a three-member panel assessed human rights, in November 2000, the United States and Austria normalized their relations. Austrian leaders emphasize the role the country plays as an East-West hub. Austria is active in the United Nations and experienced in UN peacekeeping efforts, recently, Vienna added the preparatory commission for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization and the Wassenaar Arrangement to the list of international organizations it hosts. Austria traditionally has been active in bridge-building to the east, increasing contacts at all levels with Eastern Europe, austrians maintain a constant exchange of business representatives, political leaders, students, cultural groups, and tourists with the countries of central and eastern Europe. Austrian companies are active in investing and trading with the countries of central, in addition, the Austrian Government and various Austrian organizations provide assistance and training to support the changes underway in the region. Austria maintains significant bilateral relations with several countries, List of diplomatic missions in Austria List of diplomatic missions of Austria Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs Visa requirements for Austrian citizens Horn, David Bayne. Great Britain and Europe in the eighteenth century covers 1603-1702, pp 111-43 and this article incorporates public domain material from the United States Department of State website http, //www. state. gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/index. htm
36.
Legislature
–
A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. Legislatures form important parts of most governments, in the separation of model, they are often contrasted with the executive. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation, legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process. The members of a legislature are called legislators, each chamber of legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a number of legislators present to carry out these activities. Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are delegated to committees made up of small selections of the legislators. The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties, the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs, the internal organization of a legislature is also shaped by the informal norms that are shared by its members. Legislatures vary widely in the amount of power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries, militaries. In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a Parliamentary Powers Index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures, such a system renders the legislature more powerful. Legislatures will sometime delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies, legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators, who vote on proposed laws. For example, a legislature that has 100 seats has 100 members, by extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a seat, as, for, example, in the phrases safe seat and marginal seat. In parliamentary systems of government, the executive is responsible to the legislature which may remove it with a vote of no confidence, names for national legislatures include parliament, congress, diet and assembly. A legislature which operates as a unit is unicameral, one divided into two chambers is bicameral, and one divided into three chambers is tricameral. In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is considered the upper house. In federations, the upper house typically represents the component states. This is a case with the legislature of the European Union. Tricameral legislatures are rare, the Massachusetts Governors Council still exists, tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. Legislatures vary widely in their size, among national legislatures, Chinas National Peoples Congress is the largest with 2987 members, while Vatican Citys Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7
37.
Quorum
–
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised, the requirement for a quorum is protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by a small number of persons. The term quorum is from a Middle English wording of the commission formerly issued to justices of the peace, derived from Latin quorum, of whom, genitive plural of qui, as a result, quora as plural of quorum is not a valid Latin formation. Each assembly determines the number of members constitutes a quorum in its governing documents. The quorum may also be set by law, in the absence of such a provision, a quorum in an assembly whose membership can be determined is a majority of the entire membership. In the meetings of a convention, unless provided otherwise, a quorum is a majority of registered delegates, in a mass meeting or in an organization in which the membership cannot be accurately determined, the quorum consists of those who attend the meeting. In committees and boards, a quorum is a majority of the members of the board or committee unless provided otherwise, the board or committee cannot set its own quorum unless given such power. In a committee of the whole or its variants, a quorum is the same as the assembly unless otherwise provided, in online groups, a quorum has to be determined in a different manner since no one is actually present. The rules establishing such groups would have to prescribe this determination, an example is that a quorum in such groups could be established as present if enough members state that they are present at the designated meeting time. The chair of the group has the responsibility to determine if a quorum is present, in addition, any member can raise a point of order about an apparent absence of a quorum. When a quorum is not met, the assembly can only take limited procedural actions. These limited actions are to fix the time to which to adjourn, adjourn, recess, or take measures to obtain a quorum, any other business that is conducted is not valid unless it is ratified at a later meeting where a quorum is present. However, there is no obligation to ratify such action and those responsible may be punished for their actions, in legislatures and other assemblies that have the legal power to compel the attendance of their members, the call of the house procedure may be used to obtain a quorum. This procedure does not exist in ordinary societies, since voluntary associations have no coercive power, when a call of the house is ordered, the clerk calls the roll of members and then the names of absentees. Members who do not have an excused absence are arrested and brought in, the arrested members may be charged a fee. In the United States Senate, the procedure was used in the morning hours of February 25,1988. Byrds motion was approved 45-3 and arrest warrants were signed for all 46 Republicans, after a cleaning woman gave a tip that Senator Robert Packwood of Oregon was in his office, Giugni opened the door with a skeleton key. Packwood attempted to shove the door closed, but Giugni and two assistants pushed it open, Packwood was carried feet-first into the Senate chamber by three plainclothes officers and sustained bruised knuckles
38.
Referendum
–
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to vote on a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new law, in some countries it is synonymous with a plebiscite or a vote on a ballot question. Some definitions of plebiscite suggest that it is a type of vote to change the constitution or government of a country, however, some other countries define it differently. For example, Australia defines referendum as a vote to change the constitution, the addition of the verb sum to a gerundive, denotes the idea of necessity or compulsion, that which must be done, rather than that which is fit for doing). This determines the form of the plural in English, which according to English grammar should be referendums, the use of referenda as a plural form in English is thus insupportable according to the rules of both Latin and English grammar alike. The Latin plural gerundive referenda, meaning things to be referred, compare also, Agenda those matters which must be driven forward, from ago, to drive, Memorandum, that matter which must be remembered, from memoro, to call to mind, etc. The name and use of the referendum is thought to have originated in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as early as the 16th century. Today, a referendum can also often be referred to as a plebiscite, for example, Australia defines referendum as a vote to change the constitution, and plebiscite as a vote that does not affect the constitution. In contrast, Ireland has only held one plebiscite, which was the vote to adopt its constitution. Of that which has most definitely already occurred and this is in line with Eamon De Valeras oft stated belief that the people do not have the right to do wrong which in this context means to reject his new Eire constitution. The term referendum covers a variety of different meanings, a referendum can be binding or advisory. In some countries, different names are used for two types of referendum. From a political-philosophical perspective, referendums are an expression of direct democracy, however, in the modern world, most referendums need to be understood within the context of representative democracy. Australia ranked second with dozens of referendums, a referendum usually offers the electorate a choice of accepting or rejecting a proposal, but this is not necessarily the case. In Switzerland, for example, multiple choice referendums are common and this question can be resolved by applying voting systems designed for single winner elections to a multiple-choice referendum. Swiss referendums get around this problem by offering a separate vote on each of the options as well as an additional decision about which of the multiple options should be preferred. In the Swedish case, in both referendums the winning option was chosen by the Single Member Plurality system, in other words, the winning option was deemed to be that supported by a plurality, rather than an absolute majority, of voters. In the 1977, Australian referendum, the winner was chosen by the system of preferential instant-runoff voting, the 1992 New Zealand poll, was counted under the two-round system, as were polls in Newfoundland and Guam, for example
.svg)
