1. Created and presented by: Benedict Gombocz
POLITICS OF AUSTRIA

2. Introduction to Austria’s
political system
 The Politics of Austria function in a structure of federal
parliamentary representative democratic republic, with
Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) as head of
government, and Federal President (Bundespräsident) as head
of state.
 Executive power is executed by governments, both local and
federal; federal legislative power is exercised both in
government and two chambers of parliament, National
Council and Federal Council.
 Political landscape has largely been ruled by conservative
Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and center-left Social
Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ).
 Judiciary is independent of executive and legislature, and
exclusively federal in nature; thus, there are no state courts.

3. Head of State
 Austria’s head of state is Federal President
(Bundespräsident), elected by popular vote for a six-year term
and restricted to two consecutive terms in office; current
President Heinz Fischer was elected for a second and final six-
year term on 25 April 2010.
 Office of Federal President is in large part formal, but
constitution permits president to discharge cabinet or dissolve
National Council and call for new elections.

4. Head of Government
 Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) is nominated by
Federal President.
 Is head of government, but does not exercise power to
administer other members of government.
 After 2008 legislative election, Social Democratic Party
leader Werner Faymann assumed office of Chancellor on
2 December 2008.

5. Government
 Federal cabinet is composed of Federal Chancellor who is
nominated by president and several ministers nominated
by president on suggestion of chancellor.
 Federal cabinet is accountable to National Council and
can be made to resign by motion of no confidence.
 Current cabinet, consisting of Social Democratic Party
and Austrian People’s Party, assumed office on 2
December 2008.

6. Government of Austria
 Government (Regierung): Federal
Parliamentary republic
 President (Bundespräsident) : Heinz
Fischer
 Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) : Werner
Faymann (SPÖ)
 President of the National Council:
Barbara Prammer (SPÖ)
 Legislature: Parliament (Parlament)
 Upper house: Federal Council
(Bundesrat)
 Lower house: National Council
(Nationalrat)

7. Heinz Fischer
 Born 9 October 1938 in Graz, in what had
recently been annexed to Nazi Germany after
March 1938 Anschluss (Annexation).
 Current President of Austria; assumed office
on 8 July 2004 and was re-elected for second
and last term on 25 April 2010.
 Went to Gymnasium, studying humanities;
took his Matura exams in 1956.
 Majored in law at University of
Vienna, obtaining doctorate in 1961.
 Spent a year volunteering at Kibbutz Sarid in
northern Israel in 1963 at age 25.
 Sought academic career, apart from being a
politican; became Professor of Political Science
at University of Innsbruck in 1993.
 Member of National Council from 1971; served
as Minister of Science from 1983 until 1987 and
subsequently as President of National Council
of Austria from 1990 until 2002.
 Formerly member of Social Democratic Party
of Austria (SPÖ); discontinued his party
membership for second term of his presidency.

8. Werner Fayman
 Born 4 May 1960 in Vienna.
 Current Chancellor of Austria and chairman of Social
Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ).
 Majored in law at University of Vienna for two
years, but never graduated.
 Consultant at Zentralsparkasee Bank (now Bank
Austria) from 1985-1988, which he left to be director
and provincial chairman of Viennese Tenants’
counseling.
 Also served as provincial chairman of Socialist Youth
Vienna (Sozialistische Jugend Wien) from 1985-
1994, becoming member of Viennese state parliament
and municipal council, where he held different posts
relating to housing concentration and urban renewal.
 Was Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and
Technology in cabinet of Chancellor Alfred
Gusenbauer.
 Succeeded Gusenbauer as chairman of Social
Democratic Party and subsequently led the party in
ensuing legislative election held on 28 September
2008.

9. Barbara Prammer
 Born 11 January 1954 in Ottnang am
Hausruck.
 Politican for Social Democratic
Party.
 President of National Council of
Austria since 30 October 2006;
served as its VP from 2004-2006.
 Served as Federal Minister for
Women Affairs and Consumer
Protection from 1997-2000; was
subsequently elected to National
Council in 1999.
 Is married and has two children.

10. Parliament of Austria
 Comprised of two chambers.
 National Council (Nationalrat) has 183
members, elected to term of five years by
proportional representation.
 Prevalent of legislature’s two chambers.
 A party needs to gather at least four percent of
votes across the country or obtain a seat
(Direktmandat) in one of 43 regional
constituencies.
 Politically much less important Federal Council
(Bundesrat) currently is made up of 62 members;
they are elected by state legislators (Landtage).
 Number and division of seats is recalculated after
every census.
 Power of Federal Council is to some extent
restricted; in most cases, it only has suspensive
veto, which can be rejected by National Council.
 In some cases, nevertheless, such as laws
restricting competences of provinces, approval of
Federal Council is mandatory.

11. Parliament of Austria –
cont.
 Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung), which is shaped by National
Council and Federal Council in joint session, is in large part ceremonial
institution; its principal liability is swearing in of Federal President.
 Can also call referendum on removing president from office or bringing
president before Constitutional Court if it closes that president infringes
constitution; is liable for declaring war.
 Had to surrender some of its power to European Union institutions after
Austria’s accession to European Union in 1995.
 Austrian Convention (Österreich Konvent) was established in 2003 to
recommend motions for reform of Austrian constitution and principal
institutions; offered a report in 2007, with some of its suggestions
adopted by parliament.

12. Parties represented in National Council
 Social Democratic Party of Austria
(Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ)
 Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische
Volkspartei, ÖVP)
 Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei
Österreichs, FPÖ)*
 The Freedomites in Carinthia (Die Freiheitlichen
in Kärnten, FPK) *
 Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis
Zukunft Österreich, BZÖ)
 The Greens – The Green Alternative (Die
Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative, GRÜNE)
 Citizens’ Forum Austria (Bürgerforum
Österreich, FRITZ)
 Hans-Peter Martin’s List (Liste Hans-Peter
Martin, HPM)
 *Ordinary FPÖ/FPK group in Nationalrat; FPK runs in
Carinthia only, FPÖ elsewhere.

13. Parties represented in state parliaments
 Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische
Partei Österreichs, KPÖ)
 List Burgenland (Liste Burgenland, LBL)

14. Minor parties
 Animal Rights Party (Tierrechtspartei, TRP)
 Black-Yellow Alliance (Schwarz-Gelbe Allianz, SGA)
 Christian Electoral Community (Christliche Wählergemeinschaft, CWG)
 Christian Party of Austria (Christliche Partei Österreichs, CPÖ)
 Communist Initiative (Kommunistische Initiative, KI)
 Enotna Lista (Unity List, EL)
 Left (Linke, LINKE)
 Liberal Forum (Liberales Forum, LiF)
 Neutral Free Austria (Neutrales Freies Österreich, NFÖ)
 Pirate Party of Austria (Piratenpartei Österreichs, PPÖ)
 Save Austria (Rettet Österreich, RETTÖ)
 Socialist Left Party (Sozialistische LinksPartei, SLP)
 The Social Liberals (Die Sozialliberalen, SoL)
 Young Liberals Austria (Junge Liberale Österreich, JuLis)

15. Social Democratic Party of Austria
 Center-left and social democratic political
party and one of the oldest Austrian
political parties.
 Founded 30 December 1888 (as SDAPÖ).
 One of two important parties in Austria; has
ties to trade unions (ÖGB) and Austrian
Chamber of Labour.
 Among few mainstream European social-
democratic parties that have maintained
their socialist sources and rejected neo-
liberalism.
 Currently governs Austria as senior partner
in coalition with second-largest party, the
conservative Austrian People’s Party
(ÖVP), with SPÖ leader Werner Faymann
currently serving as Chancellor of Austria.
 Member of Socialist International and Party
of European Socialists.

16. Austrian People’s Party
 Christian democratic and conservative
political party.
 Successor to Christian Social Party of late
19th and early 20th centuries; similar to
Christian Democratic Union of Germany in
terms of ideology.
 Founded on 17 April 1945, immediately
after re-establishment of Federal Republic
of Austria; has since been one of Austria’s
two important parties, together with larger
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ).
 Currently junior partner in coalition
government with SPÖ, in federal
governance, with ÖVP party leader Michael
Spindelegger as current Vice-Chancellor of
Austria.

17. Landeshauptmann
 German for “state captain”; plural Landeshauptmänner or Landeshauptleute; female form is
Landeshauptfrau is ex-German gubernatorial name equal to that of governor of province or state.
 Originally alluded to governor of principality or province in Holy Roman Empire and Austrian Empire;
remains in use in modern Austria and in South Tyrol (Südtirol in German), autonomous province in
neighboring Italy with significant linguistic and cultural ties to neighboring Austrian state Tyrol (Tirol in
German).
 In the Czech Republic, hejtman (hauptmann in German) depicts all of the 13 self-governing regions (Czech:
kraj; pl. kraje).
 Also used by German Empire for governors during early periods of rule over South West Africa from 1893-
1898, Togoland from 1893-1898 and German New Guinea from 1886-1889 and 1892-1899.
 In present-day Austria, Landeshauptmanni s used for head of executive of nine Austrian states, equal to
post of Minister-President in Germany’s 16 states.
 Landeshauptmann is elected by Landtag, state parliament of respective state.
 Female equivalent of this name is Landeshauptfrau; upon election of Waltraud Klasnic (ÖVP) as state
governor of Styria in 1996, she preferred being spoken to as Frau Landeshauptmann, while Gabi
Burgstaller (SPÖ), state governor of Salzburg since 2004, prefers being addressed as Frau
Landeshauptfrau.
 Since 1 July 1988, Constitution of Austria permits, but does not order, office positions to be gender-
specific.

18. THE END (DAS ENDE)