Austria's Multiparty System: Diverse And Dynamic

Austria is a multiparty federal parliamentary republic with a chancellor as the head of government and a president as the head of state. The country has a two-chamber federal parliament, consisting of the National Council (Nationalrat) and the Federal Council (Bundesrat). The National Council is the predominant chamber, with 183 members elected for a five-year term by proportional representation.

Austria has a multi-party system, with over 1,100 registered political parties. Since the 1980s, four parties have consistently received enough votes to gain seats in the national parliament. These include the Austrian People's Party, the Social Democratic Party of Austria, the Freedom Party of Austria, and NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum.

Austria's political landscape reflects the dynamics of competition among multiple political parties, with the formation of coalition governments being a common outcome.

Austria's multiparty system

Austria is a federal parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. The country has over 1,100 registered political parties, but only a few are known to the larger public. Since the 1980s, four parties have consistently received enough votes to get seats in the national parliament. These are the Austrian People's Party, the Greens – The Green Alternative, the Freedom Party of Austria, and the Social Democratic Party of Austria.

In a multi-party system, multiple political parties must negotiate to form a coalition with a majority of the vote in order to make substantial changes. This encourages centrism and coalition-building skills while discouraging polarization. It also prevents the leadership of a single party from controlling a single legislative chamber without challenge.

Austria's federal Parliament has two chambers: the directly elected Lower House (Nationalrat) and the Upper House (Bundesrat), which is elected by regional parliaments. There are five parties represented in the National Council. All of the parties in the National Council are also represented in the Federal Council and the European Parliament.

The Austrian People's Party

Austria has a multi-party system, with over 1,100 registered political parties. However, only a few are known to the larger public, and since the 1980s, four parties have consistently received enough votes to get seats in the national parliament.

The ÖVP was founded in 1945, immediately following the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria, and has been one of the two traditional major parties in the country, 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. The party underwent a change in image after Sebastian Kurz became chairman, adopting the colour turquoise and the alternate name, The New People's Party.

The ÖVP is described as a centre-right party, positioning itself as a "progressive centre party". It is the unofficial successor to the Christian Social Party, a conservative movement founded in 1893. The party has been represented in both the Federal Assembly and the National Council since its inception and has consistently been the strongest or second-strongest party in terms of Federal Assembly seats.

In the 1945 Austrian legislative election, the ÖVP won a landslide victory, taking almost half of the popular vote and an absolute majority in the legislature. However, the party chose to maintain a grand coalition with the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) and the SPÖ, which had governed the country since the restoration of independence. The ÖVP remained the senior partner in this coalition until 1966 and then governed alone from 1966 to 1970.

After the 1999 election, the ÖVP formed a coalition with the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which caused widespread outrage in Europe and led to informal diplomatic sanctions on Austria by the European Union. In 2002, the ÖVP won a landslide victory, taking 42.27% of the vote, while the FPÖ's support decreased significantly.

In the 2017 legislative election, the ÖVP's campaign under Sebastian Kurz shifted rightward, promising a crackdown on illegal immigration and a fight against political Islam. The ÖVP won the election and formed a coalition government with the FPÖ, which collapsed after eighteen months, leading to the 2019 election. Following this, the ÖVP formed a new coalition with The Greens.

Overall, the Austrian People's Party is a major force in Austrian politics, consistently holding power or sharing it in coalitions with other parties. It has a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative ideology, and its policies and coalitions have had a significant impact on the country's political landscape.

The Greens – The Green Alternative

Austria has a multi-party system, with over 1,100 registered political parties. However, only a few are known to the larger public, and since the 1980s, four parties have consistently received enough votes to get seats in the national parliament. One of these parties is The Greens – The Green Alternative, or Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative in German.

The Greens are a green political party that was founded in 1986 following the merger of the conservative Green party Vereinte Grüne Österreichs (United Greens of Austria VGÖ) and the progressive party Alternative Liste Österreichs (Alternative List Austria, ALÖ). The party has been in a coalition with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) in the Nehammer government. Before that, they were part of the Schallenberg government and the Second Kurz government. The Greens' basic values, according to their 2001 charter, include direct democracy, nonviolence, ecology, solidarity, feminism, and self-determination. Apart from ecological issues and environmental protection, the party is Pro-European and campaigns for the rights of minorities. They advocate for a socio-ecological (ökosozial) tax reform.

In the 1986 parliamentary elections, the Green Party received 4.82% of the votes, which gave them eight National Council mandates. In the early elections to the National Council in 2002, the Green Party received 9.47% of the votes nationwide and won 17 mandates, the highest number of votes garnered by any European Green party at the time.

The Greens have experienced both successes and setbacks in subsequent elections. In the 2006 elections, they gained four seats and became the third-largest party in Parliament, but they did not have enough mandates to form a coalition government. In the 2017 legislative election, the party's support collapsed, scoring only 3.8% and losing its representation in the National Council for the first time since 1986. However, they saw a revival in the 2019 European election, scoring 14.1% and electing two MEPs. In the 2019 snap legislative election, the Greens returned to the National Council with their best-ever result, scoring 13.9% and electing 26 MPs.

The Greens have also made their way into the parliaments or assemblies (Landtag) of Austrian federal states and communal governments. They have had varying levels of success in different states, with some states having stronger support for the party than others.

The current President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, is from the Green Party.

The Communist Party of Austria

Austria has a multiparty system, with over 1,100 registered political parties. However, only a few are known to the larger public, and since the 1980s, only four parties have consistently received enough votes to get seats in the national parliament.

The KPÖ is a communist party that combines radical-democratic reform policies with a transformative perspective to overcome capitalism. It strives for a democratic form of socialism, aiming for a classless society, the protection of nature, and the end of patriarchy.

Historically, the KPÖ has had a tumultuous existence. It was banned between 1933 and 1945 under both the Austrofascist regime and the Nazi German administration of Austria. During the First Republic, the party had little influence and failed to gain any parliamentary mandates, partly due to the strength of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) as a united opposition movement.

The KPÖ has not had representation in the National Council (Austria's federal parliament) since 1959. However, it has seen a revival in recent years, particularly in the state of Styria, where it has won seats in the state parliament since 2005. The KPÖ also holds the mayorship of Graz, Austria's second-largest city, and has over 130 seats on district and municipal councils across the country.

The party's success has been attributed to its focus on housing policy and its direct contact with people, offering counselling for tenants and support with social benefit applications. The KPÖ has also been careful to distance itself from authoritarian systems and any expression of admiration for communist regimes of the past.

While the KPÖ has seen local successes, it received only 0.7% of the votes in the 2019 legislative election, falling well below the 4% minimum threshold to obtain seats in the National Council. The party has consistently been critical of NATO and the European Union, and it views Austria's accession to the EU in a negative light, comparing it to the Anschluß by Nazi Germany.

The Social Democratic Party of Austria

Austria has a multi-party system, with over 1,100 registered political parties. Of these, only a few are known to the larger public, and since the 1980s, four parties have consistently received enough votes to get seats in the national parliament. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) is one of the country's two traditional major parties and is the oldest extant political party in Austria. It was founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria and later became known as the Socialist Party of Austria from 1945 until 1991. The party is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectrum.

Since June 2023, the SPÖ has been led by Andreas Babler. It is currently the second-largest of five parties in the National Council, with 40 out of 183 seats, and won 21.2% of the votes cast in the 2019 legislative election. The party holds seats in the legislatures of all nine states and is the largest party in three: Burgenland, Carinthia, and Vienna. The SPÖ is supportive of Austria's membership in the European Union and is a member of the Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists. It has close ties to the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK).

The SPÖ has a rich history in Austrian politics. After World War I, it briefly governed the First Austrian Republic but then returned to the opposition. The party was banned in 1934 following the Austrian Civil War and suppressed during the Nazi period. It was refounded as the Socialist Party of Austria in 1945 and governed as a junior partner of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) until 1966. In 1970, the SPÖ became the largest party for the first time in post-war history, and Bruno Kreisky became Chancellor, winning three consecutive majorities. From 1987 to 2000, the SPÖ led a grand coalition with the ÖVP before returning to the opposition for the first time in 30 years. The party governed again from 2007 to 2017 and has been the primary opposition to the ÖVP governments since then.

In recent years, the SPÖ has faced internal power struggles and has seen a decline in electoral support. In the 2024 Austrian legislative election, the party won just 21.1%, marking its worst result ever in the National Council. Despite this, the SPÖ remains a significant force in Austrian politics and continues to shape the country's political landscape.

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