Austrian People's Party

Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Abbreviation ÖVP
Chairman Sebastian Kurz
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz
Secretary-General Karl Nehammer
Parliamentary leader August Wöginger
Managing director Axel Melchior
Founded 17 April 1945
Preceded by None (de jure)
Christian Social Party (de facto, partly)
Headquarters Lichtenfelsgasse 7
A-1010 Vienna
Ideology Christian democracy[1][2][3][4]
Conservatism[4][5][6]
Political position Centre-right[7][8][9][10]
European affiliation European People's Party
International affiliation International Democrat Union
European Parliament group European People's Party
Colours      Cyan (since 2017)
     Black (before 2017)
National Council
61 / 183
Federal Council
22 / 61
Governorships
6 / 9
State governments
7 / 9
State parliaments
136 / 440
European Parliament
5 / 18
Website
oevp.at

The Austrian People's Party (German: Österreichische Volkspartei; ÖVP) is a Christian democratic[1][2][3][4] and conservative[4][5][6] political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was founded immediately following the reestablishment of the Republic of Austria in 1945, and since then has been one of the two largest Austrian political parties with the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). In federal governance, the ÖVP has spent most of the postwar era in a grand coalition with the SPÖ. Most recently, it has been junior partner in a coalition government with the SPÖ since 2007. However, the ÖVP won the 2017 election, having the greatest number of seats and formed a coalition with the national-conservative FPÖ. Its chairman, Sebastian Kurz, is the youngest chancellor in Austrian history.[11]

Platform

The Austrian People's Party is conservative. For most of its existence, the People's Party has explicitly defined itself as Catholic and anti-socialist; the ideal of subsidiarity as defined by the encyclical Quadragesimo anno. The party is sometimes compared to the CDU/CSU of Germany in terms of ideology, with both operating as catch-all parties of the centre-right.[12]

For the first election after World War II, ÖVP presented itself as the Austrian Party („die österreichische Partei“), was decidedly anti-Marxist and regarded itself as the Party of the Centre („Partei der Mitte“). The ÖVP consistently held power – either alone or in so-called Black-Red coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) – until 1970, when the SPÖ formed a minority government with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The ÖVP's economic policies during the era generally upheld a social market economy.

As of 2013, with regard to economic policy, the Austrian People's Party advocates economic liberalization, endorsing the reduction of Austria's relatively large public sector, welfare reform, and general deregulation. With regard to foreign affairs it strongly supports European integration.

The party's campaign for the 2017 general election under the young chairman Sebastian Kurz was dominated by a promised crackdown on illegal immigration and the fight against political Islam,[13] similar to the program of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), the party that Kurz chose as coalition partner after he has won the election.

History

Logo before 2017.

The Austrian People's Party is the successor of the Christian Social Party, a staunchly conservative movement founded in 1893 by Karl Lueger, mayor of Vienna and highly controversial right-wing populist. Most of the members of the Austrian People's party during its founding belonged to the former Fatherland Front, which was led by chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, also a member of the Christian Social Party before the Anschluss. While still sometimes honored by ÖVP members for resisting Hitler, the regime built by Dollfuß was authoritarian in nature and has been dubbed as "Austrofascism". In its present form, the People's Party was established immediately after the restoration of Austria's independence in 1945; it has been represented in both the Federal Assembly ever since. In terms of Federal Assembly seats, the People's Party has consistently been the strongest or second-strongest party; as such, it has led or at least been a partner in most Austria's federal cabinets.

Federal Government

In November 1945, the ÖVP won a sweeping victory in Austria's first postwar election, winning almost half the popular vote and an absolute majority in the legislature. However, memories of the hyperpartisanship that had plagued the First Republic prompted the ÖVP to maintain the grand coalition with the SPÖ that had governed the country since the restoration of independence in early 1945. The ÖVP remained the senior partner in this coalition until 1966, and governed alone from 1966 to 1970. It reentered the government in 1986, but has never been completely out of power since the restoration of Austrian independence in 1945, due to a longstanding tradition that all major interest groups were to be consulted on policy.

After the 1999 legislative election, several months of negotiations ended in early 2000 when the ÖVP formed a coalition government with the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) led by Jörg Haider. The FPÖ had won just a few hundred more votes than the ÖVP, but was considered far too controversial to lead a government. Thus, the ÖVP's Wolfgang Schüssel became chancellor – the first ÖVP chancellor of Austria since 1970. This caused widespread outrage in Europe, and the European Union imposed informal diplomatic sanctions on Austria, the first time that it imposed sanctions on a member state. 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.[14] Austria, in turn, threatened to veto all applications by countries for EU membership until the sanctions were lifted.[15] 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 landslide victory (42.27% of the vote) for the ÖVP under Schüssel. Haider's FPÖ was reduced to 10.16% of the vote.

After the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) split from the FPÖ in 2005, the BZÖ replaced the FPÖ in the government coalition, which lasted until 2007. Austria for the first time had a government containing of a party that was founded during the parliamentary term.

In the 2006 legislative election, the ÖVP were defeated and after much negotiations agreed to become junior partner in a grand coalition with the SPÖ, with new Party chairman Wilhelm Molterer as Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor under SPÖ leader Alfred Gusenbauer, who became Chancellor. The next legislative election in 2008 saw the ÖVP lose 15 seats with an 8.35% decrease in its share of the vote.

The ÖVP won the largest share of the vote (30.0% (−2.7%)) in the 2009 European elections, with 846,709 votes (+28,993) but their number of seats remained the same.

States

At the state level, the People's 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, where they kept its result in seats (14) in 2009 and in 2005 in Styria for the first time.

Chairpersons since 1945

The chart below shows a timeline of People's Party chairpersons and the Chancellors of Austria. The left black bar shows all the chairpersons (Bundesparteiobleute, abbreviated as "CP") of the ÖVP party, and the right bar shows the corresponding make-up of the Austrian government at that time. The red (SPÖ) and black (ÖVP) colours correspond to which party led the federal government (Bundesregierung, abbreviated as "Govern."). The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, the Roman numeral stands for the cabinets.

Sebastian KurzReinhold MitterlehnerMichael SpindeleggerJosef PröllWilhelm MoltererWolfgang SchüsselErhard BusekAlois MockJosef KlausAlfons GorbachJulius RaabLeopold Figl

Election results

National Council

National Council of Austria
Election year # of total votes % of overall vote # of seats Government
1945 1,602,227 (1st) 49.8%
85 / 165
 ÖVP-SPÖ-KPÖ Majority
1949 1,846,581 (1st) 44.0%
77 / 165
 ÖVP-SPÖ Majority
1953 1,781,777 (2nd) 41.3%
74 / 165
 SPÖ-ÖVP Majority
1956 1,999,986 (1st) 46.0%
82 / 165
 ÖVP-SPÖ Majority
1959 1,928,043 (2nd) 44.2%
79 / 165
 ÖVP-SPÖ Majority
1962 2,024,501 (1st) 45.4%
81 / 165
 ÖVP-SPÖ Majority
1966 2,191,109 (1st) 48.3%
85 / 165
 ÖVP Majority
1970 2,051,012 (2nd) 44.7%
78 / 165
 in opposition
1971 1,964,713 (2nd) 43.1%
80 / 183
 in opposition
1975 1,981,291 (2nd) 42.9%
80 / 183
 in opposition
1979 1,981,739 (2nd) 41.9%
77 / 183
 in opposition
1983 2,097,808 (2nd) 43.2%
81 / 183
 in opposition
1986 2,003,663 (2nd) 41.3%
77 / 183
 SPÖ-ÖVP Majority
1990 1,508,600 (2nd) 32.1%
60 / 183
 SPÖ-ÖVP Majority
1994 1,281,846 (2nd) 27.7%
52 / 183
 SPÖ-ÖVP Majority
1995 1,370,510 (2nd) 28.3%
52 / 183
 SPÖ-ÖVP Majority
1999 1,243,672 (3rd) 26.9%
52 / 183
 ÖVP-FPÖ Majority
2002 2,076,833 (1st) 42.3%
79 / 183
 ÖVP-FPÖ Majority
2006 1,616,493 (2nd) 34.3%
66 / 183
 SPÖ-ÖVP Majority
2008 1,269,656 (2nd) 26.0%
51 / 183
 SPÖ-ÖVP Majority
2013 1,125,876 (2nd) 24.0%
47 / 183
 SPÖ-ÖVP Majority
2017 1,341,930 (1st) 31.4%
62 / 183
 ÖVP-FPÖ Majority

President

Election Candidate First round result Second round result
Votes %Votes Result Votes %Votes Result
1951 Heinrich Gleißner 1,725,451 40.1% Runner-up 2,006,322 47.9% Lost
1957 Wolfgang Denk 2,159,604 48.9% Lost  
1963 Julius Raab 1,814,125 40.6% Lost  
1965 Alfons Gorbach 2,324,436 49.3% Lost  
1971 Kurt Waldheim 2,224,809 47.2% Lost  
1974 Alois Lugger 2,238,470 48.3% Lost  
1980 Rudolf Kirchschläger 3,538,748 79.9% Won  
1986 Kurt Waldheim 2,343,463 49.6% Runner-up 2,464,787 53.9% Won
1992 Thomas Klestil 1,728,234 37.2% Runner-up 2,528,006 56.9% Won
1998 Thomas Klestil 2,644,034 63.4% Won  
2004 Benita Ferrero-Waldner 1,969,326 47.6% Lost  
2010 No candidate
2016 Andreas Khol 475,767 11.1% 5th place  

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election year # of total votes % of overall vote # of seats
1996 1,124,921 (1st) 29.7%
7 / 21
1999 859,175 (2nd) 30.7%
7 / 21
2004 817,716 (2nd) 32.7%
6 / 18
2009 858,921 (1st) 30.0%
6 / 17
2014 761,896 (1st) 27.0%
5 / 18

Symbols

Electoral symbols

References

  1. 1 2 Gary Marks; Carole Wilson (1999). "National Parties and the Contestation of Europe". In T. Banchoff; Mitchell P. Smith. Legitimacy and the European Union. Taylor & Francis. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-415-18188-4. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 André Krouwel (2012). Party Transformations in European Democracies. SUNY Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-1-4384-4483-3. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  3. 1 2 Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko; Matti Mälkiä, eds. (2007). Encyclopedia of Digital Government. Idea Group Inc (IGI). p. 390. ISBN 978-1-59140-790-4. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Austria". Parties and Elections in Europe.
  5. 1 2 Edgar Grande; Martin Dolezal; Marc Helbling; Dominic Höglinger (2012). Political Conflict in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-107-02438-0. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  6. 1 2 Terri E. Givens (2005). Voting Radical Right in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-139-44670-9. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  7. ↑ Connolly, Kate; Oltermann, Philip; Henley, Jon (2016-05-23). "Austria elects Green candidate as president in narrow defeat for far right". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  8. ↑ Clarke, Hilary; Halasz, Stephanie; Vonberg, Judith. "Coalition government with far-right party takes power in Austria". CNN. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  9. ↑ "The Latest: Election tally shows Austria turning right". Washington Times. Associated Press. 2017-10-15. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  10. ↑ Oliphant, Roland; Csekö, Balazs (2016-12-05). "Austrian far-right defiant as Freedom Party claims 'pole position' for general election: 'Our time comes'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  11. ↑ "Austria election results: Far-right set to enter government as conservatives top poll". The Independent. 16 October 2017.
  12. ↑ Sarah Elise Wiliarty (2010). The CDU and the Politics of Gender in Germany: Bringing Women to the Party. Cambridge University Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-521-76582-4. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  13. ↑ "Make Austria Great Again — the rapid rise of Sebastian Kurz". Deutsche Welle.
  14. ↑ "The European Union's sanctions against Austria". WSWS. 22 February 2000. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  15. ↑ Donald G. McNeill (4 July 2000). "A Threat By Austria on Sanctions". New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2012.

Further reading

  • Binder, Dieter A. (2004). Michael Gehler; Wolfram Kaiser, eds. 'Rescuing the Christian Occident': The People's Party in Austria. Christian Democracy in Europe since 1945. Routledge. pp. 121–134. ISBN 0-7146-5662-3.
  • Fallend, Franz (2004). Steven Van Hecke; Emmanuel Gerard, eds. The Rejuvenation of an 'Old Party'? Christian Democracy in Austria. Christian Democratic Parties in Europe Since the End of the Cold War. Leuven University Press. pp. 79–104. ISBN 90-5867-377-4.

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