Human Rights in Austria - Political Rights

Political Rights

The law provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.

In 2004 voters elected President Heinz Fischer of the SPÖ to a six-year term in national elections in which individuals could freely declare their candidacy and stand for election.In 2002 the OVP received a plurality in parliamentary elections and renewed its right-center coalition with the Freedom Party (FPO). In 2005 the Alliance for the Future of Austria broke away from the FPO, but remained a junior partner with the OVP in the coalition government. The Federal Assembly consists of the National Council and the Federal Council. There were 58 women in the 183-seat National Council and 18 women in the 62-member Federal Council. There were five women in the 14-member Council of Ministers (cabinet). Although there appeared to be relatively little minority representation at the national level, no precise information on the number of minorities in the Federal Assembly was available. Some Muslims were on party lists for the elections but were not elected into the Federal Assembly.

There were no reports of government corruption during the year. The law provides for full public access to government information, and the government generally respected these provisions in practice. Authorities can only deny access if it would violate substantial data protection rights or would involve information that is of national security interest. Petitioners could challenge denials before the Administrative Court.