Austria - News Archive

Austrian centrists form coalition

Posted: 11/24/2008
The center-left Social Democrats of Austria and the conservative People's Party said Sunday that they had agreed to form a governing coalition, after seeing gains for the far right in a recent election.

Read full story. Source: Europe - International Herald Tribune

Haider 'was the man of my life'

Posted: 10/23/2008
The successor of the Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider admits the two men had a long-standing "special relationship".

Read full story. Source: BBC News | World | UK Edition

Leader of Austrian Conservative Party Killed in Drunk Driving Incident Following Landmark Election

Posted: 10/16/2008
A week after securing his party's best ever showing in Austria’s parliamentary election, right-wing leader Jorg HAIDER died when the car he was driving slammed into a concrete post and flipped. Austrian authorities report that HAIDER had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood and was driving at twice the posted speed limit when he lost control of his vehicle on Saturday, October 11. HAIDER's Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZO) won an additional 16 seats in the September 28 parliamentary elections, bringing its total number of seats in the Austrian National Council to 23. Following HAIDER's death, Stefan PETZNER, HAIDER's 27-year-old press secretary was appointed to replace HAIDER as party chairman. HAIDER was the leader of the Freedom Party until its split with BZO in 2005, and had been known inside and out of Austria for his right-wing, populist anti-immigration and anti-European Union political stances as well as his alleged pro-Nazi sympathies.

Source: ElectionGuide

Haider 'drunk' in fatal car crash

Posted: 10/15/2008
Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider was drunk at the time of his fatal car crash, an official from his party says.

Read full story. Source: BBC News | World | UK Edition

Austria's right hails poll result

Posted: 09/29/2008
The leaders of Austria's two far-right parties hail the results of early general elections, after making big gains.

Read full story. Source: BBC News | World | UK Edition

Social Democrats Win and Far-Right Gains in Austrian Elections

Posted: 09/29/2008
According to preliminary results, Austria's Social Democrats secured a win in Sunday's parliamentary elections with 29 percent of the vote. However, this is likely to earn the Social Democrats only 58 of the 183 seats in the country’s National Council, 10 seats fewer than the party previously held. These results represent the poorest showing for the country's predominant Social Democratic and Christian Democratic (which secured 26 percent of the vote) parties since the end of the Second World War. On the other hand, Austria's two far-right parties, the Freedom Party and the Alliance for the Future of Austria, doubled their previous support, winning 18 and 11 percent respectively. The Freedom Party is expected to gain 13 seats, for a total of 34 seats, and the Alliance for the Future of Austria is likely to get 21 seats for a gain of 14. Analysts attribute the shift in power from the center to the far-right to Austrians' dissatisfaction with the traditional centrist parties as well as growing anti-European Union and anti-immigration sentiment.

Source: ElectionGuide

Rebounding right

Posted: 09/26/2008
Far-right hopes for return to power in Austria

Read full story. Source: BBC News | World | UK Edition

Austria faces new elections after government collapses

Posted: 07/10/2008
The Austrian government collapsed Monday after months of acrimonious dispute between the country's two largest parties. Alfred Gusenbauer, the country's unpopular chancellor, announced that he would not seek re-election.

Read full story. Source: Europe - International Herald Tribune

Austria to Elect New Parliament on September 28

Posted: 07/09/2008
On Wednesday, the Austrian Parliament voted unanimously to dissolve itself and call early elections, following the collapse of the body's governing coalition. The ruling Social Democratic and Conservative parties, as well as the opposition Green Party, Freedom Party, and Alliance for Austria's future agreed to hold new Parliamentary elections on September 28 of this year. Austrian President Heinz Fischer must still officially confirm the date but he is expected to do so before the end of the week. The Austrian constitution requires elections to be held no earlier than 61 days following the dissolution of parliament.

Source: ElectionGuide

Opposition Social Democrats victorious in parliamentary elections

Posted: 10/05/2006
Provisional results from the October 1 parliamentary election gave the Social Democrats the largest share of votes with 35.7%. Chancellor Wolfgang SCHUESSEL's People's Party came in second with 34.2%, and was followed by the Freedom Party with 11.2% and the Greens with 10.49%. With 4.2% of votes, Joerg HAIDER's Alliance for the Future of Austria has met the threshold required to enter the Parliament. Final results of the election are expected on October 16.

Source: ElectionGuide

Victory for Austrian opposition

Posted: 10/01/2006
Austria's opposition Social Democrats win a surprise poll victory, defeating Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel.

Read full story. Source: BBC News | World | UK Edition

Austria Announces Results for Presidential Election

Posted: 04/27/2004
Voters elected a new president on April 25. According to the results released by the Interior Ministry, Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) candidate Heinz FISCHER won the presidency with 52.41% of the valid votes while Foreign Minister Benita FERRERO-WALDNER of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) received the remaining 47.59%.  The new president will replace incumbent President Thomas KLESTIL, who cannot seek a second term in office under the Austrian constitution. 

Source: ElectionGuide

Austria Announces Preliminary Results for Parliamentary Election

Posted: 11/25/2002
Based on the preliminary results from the November 24th parliamentary election, the People’s Party won a plurality of the votes cast at 42.27% , winning 79 seats, while the Social Democrats following suit with 36.90% and 69 seats. The Freedom Party, Austria’s right wing political party, secured only 10.15% of the votes, losing all its seats within Austria’s parliamentary body. Approximately 80.49% of Austria’s 5.9 million registered voters participated in the polls, with final results available later in the week.

Source: ElectionGuide

Austria Possibly to Hold Early Parliamentary Elections

Posted: 09/09/2002
After the resignation of two ministers and the vice president, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel may be forced to call for early elections. The resignations were due to power struggles within the Freedom Party, with which the three officials were affiliated. As a result, the government suffered a series of delays and boycotts in its policies. The Freedom Party will hold elections on October 20 to elect a new leader, while the Austrian government may call for elections sometime in early November instead of October 2003.

Source: ElectionGuide

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