Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
AbbreviationÖVP
ChairmanKarl Nehammer
Secretary GeneralChristian Stocker
Parliamentary leaderAugust Wöginger
Founded17 April 1945 (1945-04-17)
HeadquartersLichtenfelsgasse 7 A-1010
First District, Vienna
Youth wingYoung People's Party
Party academyÖVP Political Academy
Membership600,000 (2017)[1]
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right[2] to right-wing[3]
European affiliationEuropean People's Party
International affiliationInternational Democracy Union
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party
Colours
  •   Turquoise
  •   Black[lower-alpha 1]
National Council
71 / 183
Federal Council
26 / 61
Governorships
6 / 9
State cabinets
7 / 9
State diets
146 / 440
European Parliament
7 / 19
Party flag
Flag of the Austrian People's Party
Website
www.dievolkspartei.at

The Austrian People's Party (German: Österreichische Volkspartei [ˈøːstəraɪçɪʃə fɔlksparˈtaɪ], ÖVP [øːfaʊˈpeː]) is a Christian-democratic[4][5][6][7] and liberal-conservative[8] political party in Austria.

Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is currently the largest party in the National Council, with 71 of the 183 seats, and won 37.5% of votes cast in the 2019 legislative election. It holds seats in all nine state legislatures, and is part of government in seven, of which it leads six. The ÖVP is a member of the International Democrat Union and the European People's Party. It sits with the EPP group in the European Parliament; of Austria's 19 MEPs, 7 are members of the ÖVP. It is the second largest party in Europe by membership.

An unofficial successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ÖVP was founded immediately following the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria in 1945. Since then, it has been one of the two traditional major parties in Austria, alongside the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). It was the most popular party until 1970, and has traditionally governed in a grand coalition with the SPÖ. It was the senior partner in grand coalitions from 1945 to 1966 and the junior partner from 1986 to 2000 and 2007–2017. The ÖVP also briefly governed alone from 1966 to 1970. After the 1999 election, the party formed a coalition with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) until 2003, when a coalition with the FPÖ splinter Alliance for the Future of Austria was formed, which lasted until 2007.

The party underwent a change in its image after Sebastian Kurz became chairman, changing its colour from the traditional black to turquoise, and adopting the alternate name The New People's Party (German: Die neue Volkspartei).[9] It became the largest party after the 2017 election, and formed a coalition government with the FPÖ.[10] This collapsed eighteen months later, leading to the 2019 election, after which the ÖVP formed a new coalition with The Greens.[11]

History

The ÖVP 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 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 Adolf Hitler, the regime built by Dollfuss was authoritarian in nature and has been dubbed as Austrofascism. In its present form, the ÖVP was established immediately after the restoration of Austria's independence in 1945 and it has been represented in both the Federal Assembly ever since. In terms of Federal Assembly seats, the ÖVP has consistently been the strongest or second-strongest party and as such it has led or at least been a partner in most Austria's federal cabinets.

Party membership of ÖVP (in turquoise), since 1945.

In the 1945 Austrian legislative election, the ÖVP won a landslide victory in Austria's first postwar election, winning almost half the popular vote and an absolute majority in the legislature. However, memories of the hyper-partisanship that had plagued the First Republic prompted the ÖVP to maintain the grand coalition with the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) that had governed the country since the restoration of independence in early 1945. The ÖVP remained the senior partner in a coalition with the SPÖ 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 Austrian 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. 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 European Union international offices.[12] Austria threatened to veto all applications by countries for European Union membership until the sanctions were lifted.[13] 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". 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. At the state level, the ÖVP 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. In 2005, it lost its plurality in Styria for the first time.

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 Austrian 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 2008 Austrian legislative election saw the ÖVP lose 15 seats, with a further 8.35% decrease in its share of the vote. However, the ÖVP won the largest share of the vote (30.0%) in the 2009 European Parliament election with 846,709 votes, although their number of seats remained the same.

Ideology and platform

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The ÖVP is described as Christian democratic,[4][5][6] conservative,[14][15] and liberal-conservative.[8] The party has also been described as a catch-all party of the centre-right, in the vein of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.[16][17] For most of its existence, the ÖVP has explicitly defined itself as Catholic and anti-socialist, with the ideals of subsidiarity as defined by the encyclical Quadragesimo anno and decentralisation.

For the first election after World War II, the ÖVP presented itself as the Austrian Party (German: die österreichische Partei), was anti-Marxist and regarded itself as the Party of the center (German: 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.

The party's campaign for the 2017 legislative election under the party chairman Sebastian Kurz was dominated by a rightward shift in policy which included a promised crackdown on illegal immigration and a fight against political Islam,[18] making it more similar to the program of the FPÖ, the party that Kurz chose as his coalition partner after the ÖVP won the election. The party underwent a change in its image after Kurz became chairman, changing its colour from the traditional black to turquoise, and adopting the name The new People's Party (German: Die neue Volkspartei).[9]

Chairpersons since 1945

The chart below shows a timeline of ÖVP 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, with the Roman numeral standing for the cabinets.

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

Election results

National Council

Election Votes  % Seats +/– Government
1945 1,602,227 49.8 (#1)
85 / 165
 Increase 85 ÖVP–SPÖ–KPÖ majority
1949 1,846,581 44.0 (#1)
77 / 165
 Decrease 8 ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1953 1,781,777 41.3 (#2)
74 / 165
 Decrease 3 ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1956 1,999,986 46.0 (#1)
82 / 165
 Increase 8 ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1959 1,928,043 44.2 (#2)
79 / 165
 Decrease 3 ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1962 2,024,501 45.4 (#1)
81 / 165
 Increase 2 ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1966 2,191,109 48.3 (#1)
85 / 165
 Increase 4 ÖVP majority
1970 2,051,012 44.7 (#2)
78 / 165
 Decrease 7 Opposition
1971 1,964,713 43.1 (#2)
80 / 183
 Increase 2 Opposition
1975 1,981,291 42.9 (#2)
80 / 183
 Steady Opposition
1979 1,981,739 41.9 (#2)
77 / 183
 Decrease 3 Opposition
1983 2,097,808 43.2 (#2)
81 / 183
 Increase 4 Opposition
1986 2,003,663 41.3 (#2)
77 / 183
 Decrease 4 SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1990 1,508,600 32.1 (#2)
60 / 183
 Decrease 17 SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1994 1,281,846 27.7 (#2)
52 / 183
 Decrease 8 SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1995 1,370,510 28.3 (#2)
52 / 183
 Steady SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1999 1,243,672 26.9 (#3)
52 / 183
 Steady ÖVP–FPÖ majority
2002 2,076,833 42.3 (#1)
79 / 183
 Increase 27 ÖVP–FPÖ majority
2006 1,616,493 34.3 (#2)
66 / 183
 Decrease 13 SPÖ–ÖVP majority
2008 1,269,656 26.0 (#2)
51 / 183
 Decrease 15 SPÖ–ÖVP majority
2013 1,125,876 24.0 (#2)
47 / 183
 Decrease 4 SPÖ–ÖVP majority
2017 1,341,930 31.5 (#1)
62 / 183
 Increase 15 ÖVP–FPÖ majority
2019 1,789,417 37.5 (#1)
71 / 183
 Increase 9 ÖVP–GRÜNE majority

President

Election Candidate First round Second round
Votes  % Result 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 Won 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
2022 No candidate

European Parliament

Election Votes  % Seats +/–
1996 1,124,921 29.7 (#1)
7 / 21
 Increase 7
1999 859,175 30.7 (#2)
7 / 21
 Steady
2004 817,716 32.7 (#2)
6 / 18
 Decrease 1
2009 858,921 30.0 (#1)
6 / 17
 Steady
2014 761,896 27.0 (#1)
5 / 18
 Decrease 1
2019 1,305,954 34.6 (#1)
7 / 18
 Increase 2

State Parliaments

State Year Votes  % Seats +/– Government
Burgenland 2020 56,728 30.6 (#2)
11 / 36
 Steady 0 Opposition
Carinthia 2023 51,637 17.0 (#3)
7 / 36
 Increase 1 SPÖ–ÖVP
Lower Austria 2023 359,194 39.9 (#1)
23 / 56
 Decrease 6 ÖVP–FPÖ
Salzburg 2023 81,752 30.4 (#1)
12 / 36
 Decrease 3 ÖVP–FPÖ
Styria 2019 217,036 36.0 (#1)
18 / 48
 Increase 4 ÖVP–SPÖ
Tyrol 2022 119,167 34.7 (#1)
14 / 36
 Decrease 3 ÖVP–SPÖ
Upper Austria 2021 303,835 37.6 (#1)
22 / 56
 Increase 1 ÖVP–FPÖ
Vienna 2020 148,238 20.4 (#2)
22 / 100
 Increase 15 Opposition
Vorarlberg 2019 71,911 43.5 (#1)
17 / 36
 Increase 1 ÖVP–Grüne

Symbols

Notes

  1. ↑ Main, until 2017

References

  1. ↑ "Zwischen Nutzen und Idealen". orf.at (in German). 17 July 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
    • "Austria's new government is a first—a Conservative-Green coalition". The Economist. 7 January 2020. But on January 7th Mr Kogler, who led the party to a string of electoral successes last year, and three of his comrades were sworn in to government as junior partners to the right-wing Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).
    • "Who's fired?". Financial Times. 30 September 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. His rightwing Austrian People's Party posted a projected 37 per cent in Sunday's general election, as both the Social Democrats and the far-right Freedom Party — Mr Kurz's allies in the government that collapsed in May — fell back.
    • "Austrian MPs vote to ban headscarves in primary schools". euronews. 16 May 2019. The law was tabled by the coalition government, made up of PM Sebastian Kurz' right-wing Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).
    • "What's at stake in Austria's legislative elections?". TRT World. 24 September 2019. That crisis—which saw the collapse of the coalition between the rightwing Austrian People's Party (OVP) and the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO)—stemmed from a controversial incident now known as the "Ibiza scandal".
  4. 1 2 Marks, Gary; Wilson, Carole (1999). "National Parties and the Contestation of Europe". In T. Banchoff; Smith, Mitchell P. (eds.). Legitimacy and the European Union. Taylor & Francis. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-415-18188-4. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  5. 1 2 Krouwel, André (2012). Party Transformations in European Democracies. SUNY Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-1-4384-4483-3. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  6. 1 2 Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko; Mälkiä, Matti, eds. (2007). Encyclopedia of Digital Government. Idea Group Inc (IGI). p. 390. ISBN 978-1-59140-790-4. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  7. ↑ Bale, Tim (2021). Riding the populist wave: Europe's mainstream right in crisis. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-009-00686-6. OCLC 1256593260.
  8. 1 2 Ralph P Güntzel (2010). Understanding "Old Europe": An Introduction to the Culture, Politics, and History of France, Germany, and Austria. Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag. p. 162. ISBN 978-3-8288-5300-3.
  9. 1 2 "Our History". Austrian People's Party. Archived from the original on 29 September 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  10. ↑ "Austria election results: Far-right set to enter government as conservatives top poll". The Independent. 16 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  11. ↑ red, ORF at (1 January 2020). "Neue Regierung: Kurz und Kogler präsentierten Einigung". news.ORF.at (in German). Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  12. ↑ "The European Union's sanctions against Austria". WSWS. 22 February 2000. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  13. ↑ McNeill, Donald G. (4 July 2000). "A Threat By Austria on Sanctions". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  14. ↑ Grande, Edgar; Dolezal, Martin; Helbling, Marc; Höglinger, Dominic (2012). Political Conflict in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-107-02438-0. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  15. ↑ Givens, Terri E. (2005). Voting Radical Right in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-139-44670-9. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  16. ↑ Mark Kesselman; Joel Krieger; Christopher S. Allen; Stephen Hellman (2008). European Politics in Transition. Cengage Learning. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-618-87078-3. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  17. ↑ 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 17 August 2012.
  18. ↑ "Make Austria Great Again — the rapid rise of Sebastian Kurz". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 17 October 2018.

Further reading

  • Binder, Dieter A. (2004). Gehler, Michael; Kaiser, Wolfram (eds.). 'Rescuing the Christian Occident': The People's Party in Austria. Routledge. pp. 121–134. ISBN 0-7146-5662-3. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  • Fallend, Franz (2004). Steven Van Hecke; Gerard, Emmanuel (eds.). The Rejuvenation of an 'Old Party'? Christian Democracy in Austria. Leuven University Press. pp. 79–104. ISBN 90-5867-377-4. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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