Austria Politics

It was the federal constitution of 1920 that secured Austria's political status as a federal, parliamentary and democratic republic. After the second world war, this status was reintroduced to the each of the 9 federal states.

The country's parliament, which consists of two chambers, is located in the capital and largest city, Vienna where the directly elected Head of State (Federal President) also sits. Appointed by the President, the Chancellor is the Chair of the government. The first of the two parliamentary chambers consisting of 183 seats, is the Nationalrat which is elected every four years by the Austrian population. This chamber is the dominant force in terms of determining legislation, however the upper house of parliament (known as teh Bundesrat) still retains a limited right of veto.

The 4.0% barrier to entry into the Nationalrat (which ensures that there aren't too many splinter parties) was not sufficient to block the entry of the far-right Freedom Party in February 2000. The entry of the far-right into main-stream national politics caused significant controversy in the EU at the time including some diplomatic sanctions.

In October 2006 elections, it was the Social Democrats who were victorious as the largest party and now lead a grand coalition under the chancellorship of Alfred Gusenbauer.

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