Austrian legislative election, 2006

Austrian legislative election, 2006
All 183 seats in the National Council ; 92 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	4,793,780 (78.49%) [1]
Chancellor before election; Wolfgang Schüssel ; ÖVP	Elected Chancellor; Alfred Gusenbauer ; SPÖ

Last updated March 12, 2019

The 2006 general election for the National Council in Austria was held on 1 October 2006.

Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in Central Europe comprising 9 federated states. Its capital, largest city and one of nine states is Vienna. Austria has an area of 83,879 km² (32,386 sq mi), a population of nearly 9 million people and a nominal GDP of $477 billion. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The terrain is highly mountainous, lying within the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 m (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 m (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other regional languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene.

Following the Austrian legislative election, 1999, the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) had formed a coalition government with the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), and later the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ). As a result of the 2006 election, the ÖVP-BZÖ coalition lost their majority in parliament. After three months of negotiations, it was announced on January 8 that the SPÖ and ÖVP would form a grand coalition, with SPÖ leader Alfred Gusenbauer becoming the next Chancellor.

The Austrian People's Party is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was founded immediately following the reestablishment of the Republic of Austria in 1945 and since then has been one of the two largest Austrian political parties with the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). In federal governance, the ÖVP has spent most of the postwar era in a grand coalition with the SPÖ. Most recently, it has been junior partner in a coalition government with the SPÖ since 2007. However, the ÖVP won the 2017 election, having the greatest number of seats and formed a coalition with the national-conservative Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). Its chairman Sebastian Kurz is the youngest Chancellor in Austrian history.

The Alliance for the Future of Austria is a right-wing populist and national conservative political party in Austria.

Parties

Parliamentary parties

Austrian People's Party

The Austrian People's Party contested the election with Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel as its leader. It was the first federal election in Austria since 1970 the party entered as strongest party. Slogans used by the party in the campaign were "Secure. Austria" (Sicher. Österreich), "Austria. Here, we are well." (Österreich. Hier geht's uns gut.) and "Austria. Stays better." (Österreich. Bleibt besser.) They also attacked the Social Democratic Party, attesting them a lack of economic competence, repeatedly bringing up the so-called "BAWAG-Affair". The ÖVP cited a rising number of academics and shorter study periods, according to them because of the introduction of tuition fees, as some of their successes. They also capitalized on their women’s policies, including being the first Austrian cabinet with half the ministers being women and appointing a woman as president of the Supreme Court for the first time.

The Chancellor of Austria is the head of government of the Austrian Republic. The chancellor chairs and leads the government, which is composed of him, the vice-chancellor and the ministers. Together with the president, who is head of state, the government forms the country's executive leadership.

Wolfgang Schüssel is an Austrian People's Party politician. He was Chancellor of Austria for two consecutive terms from February 2000 to January 2007. While being recognised as a rare example of an active reformer in contemporary Austrian politics, his governments were also highly controversial from the beginning, starting with the fact that he formed a coalition government with Jörg Haider's Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) on both occasions. In 2011, he retired from being an active member of parliament due to a multitude of charges of corruption against members of his governments.

Social Democratic Party of Austria

The Social Democratic Party was led by Alfred Gusenbauer in the election campaign. Themes of their campaign included a rising in youth unemployment, criticism of the Schüssel government's pension reform as well as the order of Eurofighter Typhoon fighters which they wanted to cancel in the case of them entering government. They also criticized the abolishment of the Ministry for Women and promised to abolish tuition fees for universities.

Alfred Gusenbauer is an Austrian politician who until 2008 spent his entire professional life as an employee of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) or as a parliamentary representative. He headed the SPÖ from 2000 to 2008, and served as Chancellor of Austria from January 2007 to December 2008. Since then he has pursued a career as a consultant and lecturer, and as a member of supervisory boards of Austrian companies.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard–delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo that conducts the majority of the project through a joint holding company, Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH formed in 1986. NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency manages the project and is the prime customer.

After coming in first in opinion polls for a long time, from March 2006 onwards the Austrian People's Party was ahead of them. The main reason for this was believed to be the "BAWAG-Affair": the Bank for Work and Economy (Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft), in which the Social Democratic dominated Austrian Trade Union Federation held a majority, was hurled into turbulences, leading to disputes in the party.

The Austrian Trade Union Federation or Austrian Federation of Trade Unions is a labour union of employees. It is constituted as an association and is subdivided into seven smaller affiliated trade unions. Each union is traditionally dominated by a certain political faction, with the strongest faction in the ÖGB as a whole traditionally being the social democratic one, which is known for its close contacts to Austria's Social Democratic Party (SPÖ); in fact, chairmen of the ÖGB have often also been influential SPÖ members.

On 3 September 2006 the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Forum formed an electoral alliance with the goal to prevent a further ÖVP-led government.

The Liberal Forum was a liberal political party in Austria. The party was active from February 1993 to January 2014, when the party merged into NEOS – The New Austria. The party was a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party.

An electoral alliance is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. Other similar terms are bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pactelectoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc.

Freedom Party of Austria

The Freedom Party of Austria campaigned with party leader Heinz-Christian Strache as their leading candidate.

Media considered the initiative "Stay free Austria" (Volksbegehren "Österreich bleib frei") as start of their campaign. Some points of their party programme they highlighted were: No accession of Turkey to the European Union and rejection of the European Constitution, no rising of Austria's contributions to the European Union, aggravation of citizenship laws, stopping immigration and fighting abuse of asylum.

The Greens - The Green Alternative

Leading candidate for the Green Party was party leader Alexander Van der Bellen.

The Greens started their pre-election campaign in May 2006 with the presentation of two "Black Books". The "Black Book black" concentrated on their criticism of the People's Party government, the "Black Book red" criticized the opposition performance of the Social Democratic Party. The Greens accused both parties of violations of human rights, with their main criticism being the 2005 reform of the asylum and foreigner's rights laws, to which the Social Democratic Party had agreed. Central to their campaign were promotion of alternative energy, improving the situation of working women, introduction of a demand orientated basic social security (Grundsicherung), an education reform and introduction of a point-system for immigration, favouring highly qualified immigrants.^[2]

They stated abolishment of tuition fees for universities and cancelling the order for Eurofighter as conditions for entering a government.

Alliance for the Future of Austria

The BZÖ entered the campaign with Peter Westenthaler, former floor leader of the Freedom Party, as its leading candidate.

Peter Westenthaler was elected as party leader on a special party summit on 23 June 2006.^[3] The party contested the election as "The Freedom-minded – Westenthaler's List – BZÖ" (Die Freiheitlichen – Liste Westenthaler – BZÖ). After the Freedom Party obtained a preliminary injunction, the BZÖ had to remove the phrase "The Freedom-minded" from its billboards – it remained on ballot papers nonetheless.

The party presented an election programme with the title "10 points against a shift to the left in Austria". Policies included: lowering of number of foreigners by 30%, limits for the share of non-native German speakers in classes and termination of the European Union's accession talks with Turkey.

On 25 September, six days before the election, Minister of Justice Karin Gastinger, deputy leader of the BZÖ and the party's leading candidate in Styria announced her leaving the party. As reason for her decision she stated that she "doesn’t want to be active in a political movement that is xenophobic, that operates with fear".^[4]

Extraparliamentary parties

Communist Party of Austria

Leading candidate for the Communist Party of Austria was Mirko Messner. Hoping for a basic mandate in the constituency Graz, the Communist Party made heavy use of the Styrian politician Ernest Kaltenegger, who managed to secure one of the best election results in the history of the party when gaining 20% of the votes in the municipal elections in Graz. Points of their election campaign included a tax for the rich as well as higher minimal pensions and wages.

Dr. Martin's List – For Democracy, Control, Justice

Hans-Peter Martin, MEP, announced in July 2006 that he intended to run with his own party. He concentrated on criticizing the established parties and trying to attract protest votes. Due to a limit on party’s short names on ballot papers to five letters the party ran as MATIN.

Other Parties

Five parties managed to secure enough signatures to run in some of the regional constituencies:

EU Withdrawal – Neutral Free Austria in Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Vienna
Socialist Left Party, List against Capitalism and Racism in Vienna
Certainly – Absolutely – Independent, Franz Radinger in Carinthia
Initiative 2000 in Burgenland
List Strong in Carinthia

Summary of results

The ÖVP lost many of the votes they had taken from the FPÖ in the 2002 election.
The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) lost fewer votes and thus regained a plurality.
The Austrian Green Party received more than 11% of the votes and pulled ahead of the Freedom Party.
The FPÖ increased their share of votes slightly but missed third place by about 500 votes.
The BZÖ, which had split off from the FPÖ in 2005, crossed the threshold of 4% and will be represented in the new parliament.
The Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) increased its share of votes to 1%.
The list of Hans Peter Martin received 2.8%. Both his list and the KPÖ are below the 4% threshold that is necessary for parliamentary representation.
The Liberal Forum decided not to stand in the election, citing the tight schedule as well as the lack of finances and a suitable party leader. However, on 3 September 2006 the SPÖ announced an electoral alliance with the LIF (some of the LIF's candidates will stand on the SPÖ's party list, ensuring that at least the LIF's chairman Alexander Zach will be a member of the next parliament).

e • d Summary of the 1 October 2006 National Council of Austria election results
Parties		Votes	+/−	%	+/−	Seats	+/−
	Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs)	1,663,986	−128,513	35.34	−1.17	68 (67)	−1
	Austrian People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei)	1,616,493	−460,340	34.33	−7.97	66	−13
	The Greens – The Green Alternative (Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative)	520,130	+55,150	11.05	+1.58	21	+4
	Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs)	519,598	+28,270	11.04	+1.03	21	+3
	The Freedom-minded – Westenthaler's List – BZÖ (Die Freiheitlichen – Liste Westenthaler – BZÖ) ^{[r 1]}	193,539	*	4.11	*	7	+7
	Dr. Martin's List – For Democracy, Control, Justice (Liste Dr. Martin – Für Demokratie, Kontrolle, Gerechtigkeit)	131,688	*	2.80	*	—	*
	Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Österreichs)	47,578	+20,010	1.01	+0.45	—	±0
	EU Withdrawal – Neutral Free Austria (EU-Austritt – Neutrales Freies Österreich) ^{[r 2]}	10,594	*	0.23	*	—	*
	Socialist Left Party, List against Capitalism and Racism (Sozialistische LinksPartei, Liste gegen Kapitalismus und Rassismus) ^{[r 3]}	2,257	−1,649	0.05	−0.03	—	±0
	Certainly – Absolutely – Independent, Franz Radinger (Sicher – Absolut – Unabhängig, Franz Radinger) ^{[r 4]}	1,514	*	0.03	*	—	*
	IVE INITIATIVE 2000 (IVE INITIATIVE 2000) ^{[r 5]}	592	*	0.01	*	—	*
	List Strong (Liste Stark) ^{[r 4]}	312	*	0.01	*	—	*
	Liberal Forum (Liberales Forum) ^{[r 6]}	—	—	—	—	— (1)	—
	Invalid/blank votes	85,499	—	—	—	—	—
	Total (turnout 78.48%; −5.8%)	4,793,780		100.0		183
Notes: ↑ Stood as "The Freedom-Minded in Carinthia – Jörg Haider's List – BZÖ" (Die Freiheitlichen in Kärnten – Liste Jörg Haider – BZÖ) in Carinthia. ↑ Stood only in Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, Vienna and Vorarlberg. ↑ Stood only in Vienna. 1 2 Stood only in Carinthia. ↑ Stood only in Burgenland. ↑ Did not stand as an independent party in the election, representatives elected on the Social Democratic Party's list. Effectively, one of the Social Democratic Party's 68 seats is a representative of the Liberal Forum. * Did not run in 2002
Source: BMI

Popular vote

SPÖ			35.34%
ÖVP			34.33%
GRÜNE			11.04%
FPÖ			11.03%
BZÖ			4.11%
MARTIN			2.79%
KPÖ			1.01%
Other			0.30%

Parliamentary seats

SPÖ			37.16%
ÖVP			36.07%
GRÜNE			11.48%
FPÖ			11.48%
BZÖ			3.83%

Maps

Opinion Polls

Source	Date	ÖVP	SPÖ	FPÖ	Greens	BZÖ	H.-P. Martin
NEWS-Market	27 September 2006	38%	35%	10%	10%	3%	3%
Profil-OGM	23 September 2006	37%	35%	10%	11%	3%	3%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	22 September 2006	38%	35%	10%	10%	3%	4%
NEWS-Market	20 September 2006	39%	34%	9%	11%	3%	3%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	19 September 2006	38%	35%	10%	11%	3%	3%
Profil-OGM	16 September 2006	38%	35%	10%	10%	3%	3%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	12 September 2006	39%	35%	8%	10%	3%	4%
IGF	11 September 2006	39%	34%	8%	11%	3%	4%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	9 September 2006	38%	35%	7%	12%	3%	4%
Profil-OGM	9 September 2006	38%	35%	9%	10%	2%	5%
NEWS/Market	7 September 2006	38%	34%	8%	11%	3%	5%
Kurier/Integral	3 September 2006	37%	35%	8%	11%	4%	5%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	31 August 2006	37%	35%	7%	11%	4%	4%
NEWS-Market	30 August 2006	39%	35%	7%	11%	3%	4%
Profil-OGM	26 August 2006	39%	35%	7%	11%	3%	4%
NEWS/Market	23 August 2006	38%	36%	7%	10%	4%	4%
NEWS/Market	16 August 2006	40%	34%	7%	11%	3%	4%
NEWS/Market	2 August 2006	39%	35%	6%	11%	3%	5%
Kurier/Integral	16 July 2006	39%	35%	8%	12%	4%	—
Profil/OGM	15 July 2006	40%	36%	8%	12%	3%	—
NEWS/Market	12 July 2006	41%	36%	5%	11%	3%	3%

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References

↑ "Nationalratswahl 2006 - Endgültiges Gesamtergebnis". Website of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior (in German). Bundesministerium für Inneres. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
↑ 2006 Green Party election programme (pdf) Archived May 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ., in German, retrieved 2010-05-17
↑ NEWS: Westenthaler elected as party leader, in German, retrieved 2010-10-17
↑ Vorarlberg Online: Gastinger leaves BZÖ ^{[ permanent dead link ]}, in German, retrieved 2010-05-17

External links

Media related to 2006 Austrian general election at Wikimedia Commons

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[5] Stood as "The Freedom-Minded in Carinthia – Jörg Haider's List – BZÖ" (Die Freiheitlichen in Kärnten – Liste Jörg Haider – BZÖ) in Carinthia.

[6] Stood only in Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, Vienna and Vorarlberg.

[7] Stood only in Vienna.

[Kärnten-8] 1 2 Stood only in Carinthia.

[9] Stood only in Burgenland.

[10] Did not stand as an independent party in the election, representatives elected on the Social Democratic Party's list. Effectively, one of the Social Democratic Party's 68 seats is a representative of the Liberal Forum.

[1] "Nationalratswahl 2006 - Endgültiges Gesamtergebnis". Website of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior (in German). Bundesministerium für Inneres. Retrieved 7 November 2014.

[2] 2006 Green Party election programme (pdf) Archived May 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ., in German, retrieved 2010-05-17

[3] NEWS: Westenthaler elected as party leader, in German, retrieved 2010-10-17

[4] Vorarlberg Online: Gastinger leaves BZÖ ^{[ permanent dead link ]}, in German, retrieved 2010-05-17