6.4 million Austrian voters turned out to vote on the 29 September in the country’s general election. As predicted by many media commentators, the current ruling two-party ‘grand coalition’ looks set for another term in government. However, despite this success, Austria’s two largest parties lost votes to an array of smaller right-wing parties.
The Austrian Electoral System
The Austrian Parliament is made up of two houses: the lower house, the Nationalrat or the National Council, and the upper house, the Bundesrat or Federal Council. The National Council has greater legislative authority than the Federal Council, which only has limited powers to block legislation.
The National Council consists of 183 members who are elected every 5 years using a complex system of proportional representation. For the elections, Austria is divided into 9 electoral districts. These districts are then subdivided into a total of 43 local electoral districts. The number of seats allocated to a district is based on the district population.
This electoral system matches the number of parties’ seats in parliament to their share of votes, provided they reach a minimum of 4% of the total vote. This method ensures parties rarely win an absolute majority.
Parties in Contention
Since the Second World War, Austrian politics has been dominated by two parties; The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), a centre-left labour party, and The People’s Party (ÖVP), a Christian democratic conservative party. These parties have been partners in government since 2008.
Werner Faymann, leader of SPÖ, has been Chancellor of Austria since 2008. The SPÖ‘s 2013 election campaign focused primarily on increased taxes for high earners and tax cuts for low earners. Their coalition partners, the ÖVP led by Michael Spindelegger, have openly opposed the introduction of new taxes throughout their election campaign– including the wealth tax proposed by SPÖ.
Active KETO Gummies لفقدان الوزن top 10 best KETO Gummies ae.activeketo-gummies.com.
