Politics in Austria reflects the dynamics of competition among multiple political parties, which led to the formation of a Conservative-Green coalition government for the first time in January 2020, following the snap elections of 29 September 2019, and the election of a former Green Party leader to the presidency in 2016.
The Austrian People's Party is a populist, Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria.
Werner Faymann is an Austrian former politician who was Chancellor of Austria and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) from 2008 to 2016. On 9 May 2016, he resigned from both positions amid widening criticism within his party.
Sebastian Kurz is an Austrian former politician who served twice as the chancellor of Austria, initially from December 2017 to May 2019 and then a second time from January 2020 to October 2021. On 23 February 2024, Kurz received an eight-month suspended sentence after being convicted of perjury by a court in Vienna over his involvement in a parliamentary inquiry.
Legislative elections were held in Austria on 15 October 2017 to elect the 26th National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament. The snap election was called when the coalition government between the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) was dissolved in May by the latter party's new leader Sebastian Kurz.
Herbert Kickl is an Austrian politician who has been leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) since June 2021. He previously served as Minister for the Interior from 2017 to 2019 and general-secretary of the FPÖ from 2005 to 2018. He has been described as a far-right politician.
Legislative elections were held in Austria on 29 September 2019 to elect the 27th National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament. The snap election was called in the wake of the Ibiza affair in May, which caused the resignation of Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and the collapse of the governing coalition of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The government subsequently lost a motion of no confidence in parliament, before ÖVP Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was replaced by non-partisan Brigitte Bierlein on an interim basis.
The First Kurz government was the 30th Government of Austria in office from 18 December 2017 until 3 June 2019. It succeeded the Kern government formed after the 2017 legislative election. Sebastian Kurz, chairman of the centre-right Austrian People's Party, known by its initials in German as ÖVP, reached an agreement on a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), setting the stage for Kurz to become chancellor of Austria—the youngest head of government in Europe—for the first time.
Werner Kogler is an Austrian politician of the Green Party who has been serving as Vice-Chancellor of Austria and minister for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport in the governments of chancellors Sebastian Kurz, Alexander Schallenberg, and Karl Nehammer since 7 January 2020.
Gernot Blümel is an Austrian politician of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). He served as Austria's finance minister from 2020 to 2021, having announced his resignation shortly after Alexander Schallenberg's resignation on 2 December 2021. Since 2015, he has been the chairman of the Vienna branch of the ÖVP. Prior, he was Chancellery minister for European Affairs, Art, Culture, and Media from 2017 to 2019; he was also General Secretary of the ÖVP from 2013 to 2015.
The Ibiza affair, also known as Ibiza-gate, was a political scandal in Austria involving Heinz-Christian Strache, the former vice chancellor of Austria and leader of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), as well as Johann Gudenus, formerly a deputy leader of the Freedom Party.
The Bierlein government was the 32nd Government of Austria following the collapse of the First Kurz government headed by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in the aftermath of the Ibiza affair. Sworn in on 3 June 2019, the Bierlein government was the first purely technocratic government in Austrian history, first interim government after a successful motion of no confidence in Parliament and first government headed by a female chancellor. As head of government, Brigitte Bierlein was assisted by Clemens Jabloner as vice-chancellor.
Alexander Georg Nicolas Schallenberg OMRI is an Austrian diplomat, jurist, and politician who has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the government of Chancellor Karl Nehammer since 2021, previously holding the office from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), he held the position in the second government of Sebastian Kurz, before briefly serving as Chancellor of Austria as Kurz's successor from 11 October to 6 December 2021.
The Second Kurz government was the 33rd Government of Austria. Led by Sebastian Kurz as chancellor and Werner Kogler as vice-chancellor, it was sworn in by President Alexander Van der Bellen on 7 January 2020. It was officially dissolved and succeeded by the Schallenberg government on 11 October 2021.
Karl Nehammer is an Austrian politician who is the 32nd and current chancellor of Austria since 6 December 2021. A member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), he previously was Minister of the Interior from 2020 to 2021, general secretary of the ÖVP from 2018 to 2020, as well as a member of the National Council from 2017 to 2020. Nehammer assumed the chancellorship as the successor of Alexander Schallenberg, who resigned to return as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Alma Zadić is a Bosnian-born Austrian lawyer and politician of the Green Party. She has been serving as Minister of Justice since 7 January 2020 in the governments of Chancellors Sebastian Kurz, Alexander Schallenberg and Karl Nehammer.
Legislative elections will be held in Austria on 29 September 2024 to elect the 28th National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament.
Events in the year 2021 in Austria.
The Schallenberg government was sworn in as 34th Government of Austria on 11 October 2021.
