In this post I talk about Austria's system of government including the executive government to do with the President and Chancellor, the Legislative Government and how elections work in the country.

1. Charlie Cornwell September 9,
2019
The Government of – Austria
theweeklyrambler.com/the-government-of-austria/
Austria is a landlocked country located in Central Europe and is bordered with eight
different countries which are Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Czechia (Czech Republic),
Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Liechtenstein. The country’s capital city, Vienna is
located in the country’s North-East with the Danube River running through it, the city has
had a number of historically famous residents including Mozart, Strauss and Freud.
Austria was once an Empire and was also a part of the German Confederation but it
eventually became the Austro-Hungarian Empire until it eventually just became Austria
after the 1 World War, thereafter it was briefly occupied by Nazi Germany during the
2 World War, with no resistance and also quite welcomingly but of course it eventually
once again became an independent nation after that. Many view the assassination of
Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo (in Bosnia & Herzegovina which used to be part of
Austria-Hungary) as the springboard for the 1 World War. That is a very, very brief
history of Austria in a nutshell.
Austria is today known by tourists for its mountain villages, baroque architecture,
imperial history and Alpine terrain. Austria is a part of the European Union and its
currency is the Euro like many (but not all) of the EU member states, previously they had
their own currency called the Austrian schilling, as of typing this 1 Euro = 0.91 Pound
Sterling and 1.11 US Dollars. As of 2017 Austria’s population was coming up to 8.800
million. Austria’s official language is German.
Government Type
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2. Austria’s Coat of Arms
Austria is a Federal Parliamentary Republic which has a President and Chancellor as its
leaders. Since it is a federation of states, each state also has a degree of autonomy and
local legislatures for control of local laws and affairs. Federal legislation is controlled by a
bicameral federal parliament. The President is elected by the people in Presidential
Elections and the Chancellor is appointed by the President based on the outcome of
Parliamentary Elections.
The Executive Government
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3. Photo by User:My Friend from Wikimedia. License.
The Executive Government includes the President who is Head of State and the
Chancellor who is Head of Government.
Although the role of the President is largely ceremonial, the position still has a number of
executive powers that includes appointing the Chancellor from the largest party after
Parliamentary Elections, the power to move government from Vienna to elsewhere
under extraordinary circumstances. The President also dissolves parliament for
parliamentary elections and can also convoke sessions of parliament, and has to if a vote
from members demands it and the President can also set up a provisional government if
needed and is in charge of executing orders/rulings of the country’s constitutional court.
The President is also Commander-in-Chief of the country’s armed forces. On advice from
the Chancellor, the President appoints the Cabinet. The President also signs bills into law
and can only not sign them into law if they break the constitution for example. The
President also has a number of many smaller powers.
Outside of these limited powers the President can make proposals and suggestions but
these can only come into force with a countersignature, such as from the Chancellor or a
Minister, depending on what the proposal or suggestion is depends on the
countersignature required and so the Presidents power is largely limited. The President
can though dismiss the Chancellor, Ministers and government without a
countersignature, but this would only be under extraordinary circumstances.
The Chancellor leads an appointed Cabinet which is in charge of government policy and
its implementation. The Chancellor and Cabinet also handles foreign affairs and
relations. It is the Chancellor’s job to keep the country informed of most affairs and
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4. announcements. The Chancellor also countersigns decisions from parliament and can
also countersign (or refuse to countersign) any bills made by the President.
The Legislative Government
Austrian Parliament Building
Austria has a Bicameral Parliament but the lower house, called the National Council has
most of the legislative power with the upper house, called the Federal Council only really
has power to veto legislation and decisions by the National Council, which in most cases
can easily be overruled by the National Council, only certain legislation and decisions
require the full approval of the Federal Council, such as to do with the constitution, laws
relating to the Federal Council itself and treaties.
The National Council currently has 183 members which are elected by the people. A
President and two deputies, called the 2nd and 3rd Presidents are elected by the
National Council to overlook the National Council to make sure rules are followed, order
is kept and to also determine the agenda. Basically, the National Council debates and
votes on legislation, which is passed through the Federal Council and then signed into
law.
The upper house, the Federal Council has 62 members which are elected by state
legislatures. I have already highlighted above practically everything they can do.
Both houses under extraordinary circumstances can join together to make a Federal
Assembly which can be used to bring the President to account and call a referendum for
him to be removed from office and it can also declare war. The houses also join together
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5. to inaugurate the President.
The Electoral System
Photo by Golbez from Wikimedia. License.
There are both Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Austria, Presidential elections
are held every six years and Parliamentary elections happen every five years. The
President can serve a max of two terms (12 years) in office.
Parliamentary elections only elect the members of the lower house, called the National
Council. Currently the lower house has 183 members and this can change based on
population changes of electoral districts. The way seats are allocated is through a fairly
complex proportional representation method that includes the nine regional districts
which is each of Austria’s states and local electoral districts which are within the regional
districts and then above all of this is the federal level.
Votes are first counted in the local electoral districts, with most being multi-seat and the
seats are given out by dividing the number of votes with the number of seats in the local
district, so for example, 150,000 votes cast in a 5-seat district would require 30,000 votes
for a candidate to win a seat, so if the party as a whole gets about 60k votes in that
district they would be entitled to two seats. Any left-over votes from a local electoral
district then influences filling remaining seats by adding up all left-over local district
votes within a regional district and then finally if there are still seats to fill and more left-
over votes, they are added up at the federal level and awarded from there, for parties to
be eligible to win seats from the regional level they require at least 4% of the vote there
and to win any further seats at the federal level a party again requires at least 4% of the
total Federal level vote share.
Parties make separate member lists for local/regional and federal levels. The
local/regional party list can be influenced by voters who put preference on candidates
during voting and so the people have some control over what candidates win seats
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6. instead of it just being controlled entirely by the party and its members. After
parliamentary elections the Chancellor is appointed by the President from the party
which won the most seats.
The President is elected through popular vote using a two-round system where to win
the 1st round outright a candidate requires at least 50% of the total vote, if not there is a
2nd round. Parties are able to stand an alternative candidate in the 2nd round. If there is
only one candidate for a presidential election the electorate may be granted a
referendum where they can accept or reject the candidate.
The upper house of parliament, the Federal Council, currently has 61 members but this
can also change due to a proportional representation system when they are elected by
local state legislatures, so the composition changes of local legislatures can cause a
composition change in Federal council elections. Members serve 5-6-year terms.
To stand in a parliamentary election the candidate must be at least 16-years-old and
have Austrian citizenship, while standing in a Presidential election requires the candidate
to be at least 35-years-old and have Austrian citizenship. To vote requires Austrian
citizenship and to be at least 16-years-old, anyone sentenced to 1-year or more jail time
loses the right to vote until they have been out for at least 6 months where they will then
be able to vote again.
Thank you for reading and I hope you learned something from this and/or enjoyed this
blogpost. Next up will be the final A country… Azerbaijan.
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