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Austria

Monthly Event Reports

February 2024 | Court finds former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz guilty of perjury

Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was found guilty of providing false statements to a parliamentary inquiry regarding alleged corruption in his first tenure in government. Vienna’s Criminal Court issued an eight-month suspended jail sentence, which Kurz has appealed. The case revolves around Kurz’s role in appointing executives to the state holding company, Österreichische Beteiligungs AG (ÖBAG), while serving as chancellor. While Kurz claimed to only be informed about the appointments, which was  a responsibility of the finance minister, evidence presented in court revealed that Kurz was actively involved. Kurz resigned in 2021 amid pressure following a corruption scandal.

November 2023 | Authorities announce compensation for prosecuted gay people
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Justice Minister Alma Zadić introduced a draft law for the rehabilitation and compensation of individuals persecuted or convicted for consensual homosexual acts. The government has allocated approximately EUR 33 million for this initiative. The legislation targets those convicted under the previous legal code, which had decriminalized homosexuality in 1971 but still targeted gay men and treated homosexual and heterosexual relationships differently. These specific legal provisions subjected gay individuals to convictions for acts that would have been lawful if they were heterosexual. The Constitutional Court only repealed the last of these provisions in 2002, but the repeal did not clear criminal records, impacting those that were convicted.

October 2023 | Constitutional Court ruling limits political control of public broadcaster ORF

The Constitutional Court ruled the current appointment process to the two top bodies of the public broadcaster ORF – the board of trustees and the audience board – to be vulnerable to political capture and therefore unconstitutional. In particular, the ruling determined that the government has too much influence in the appointment process and that civil society has too little, enabling politically motivated appointments in favour of the ruling government majority. This violates the constitutional requirement for plurality. The court has requested changes to be made by March 2025. The ruling also explicitly guarantees the constitutional requirement for the existence of a public broadcasting body. Attempts to terminate public broadcasting entirely or to reduce its tasks or funding would thus be unconstitutional.

April 2023 | Study finds antisemitism is on the rise in Austria

A research study conducted by the Institute for Empirical Social Research and commissioned by the Austrian parliament has found that antisemitism is on the rise in the country, with 15 per cent of respondents showing severe antisemitic attitudes such as denying the Holocaust. More than a third of respondents believed that Jews tried to “take advantage” of the Nazi era and that they have “too much power in international business”. Austrian governments have continuously tried to address the issue due to the country’s Nazi past as an integral part of the Third Reich.

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Explore past monthly event reports

GSoD Indices Data 2013-2022

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Basic Information

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Population Tooltip
8 956 280
System of government
Parliamentary system
Head of government
Chancellor Karl Nehammer (since 2021)
Head of government party
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP)
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
List Proportional Representation
Women in lower or single chamber
41.0%
Women in upper chamber
41.0%
Last legislative election
2019
Effective number of political parties Tooltip
4.2
Head of state
President Alexander Van der Bellen
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (two-round majority)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
22/01/2021
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
74.45%
Population Tooltip
8 956 280
System of government
Parliamentary system
Head of government
Chancellor Karl Nehammer (since 2021)
Head of government party
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP)
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
List Proportional Representation
Women in lower or single chamber
41.0%
Women in upper chamber
41.0%
Last legislative election
2019
Effective number of political parties Tooltip
4.2
Head of state
President Alexander Van der Bellen
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (two-round majority)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
22/01/2021
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
74.45%
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Human Rights Treaties

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State Party State party
Signatory Signatory
No Action No action
United Nations Human Right Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
State Party
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
State Party
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
State Party
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
State Party
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
State Party
Convention on the Rights of the Child
State Party
International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
No Action
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
State Party
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
State Party
International Labour Organisation Treaties
Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
State Party
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
State Party
Equal Remuneration Convention
State Party
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
State Party
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
State Party
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
State Party
Regional Treaties
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 4 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 7 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
Protocol No. 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Signatory
Protocol No. 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
State Party
in
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Performance by category over the last 6 months

Representation neutral Representation
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Representation neutral Rights
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Representation neutral Rule of law
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Representation neutral Participation
Sep 2023
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Feb 2024

Global State of Democracy Indices

Hover over the trend lines to see the exact data points across the years

Explore the indices
Representation
Representation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rights
Rights
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rule of Law
Rule of Law
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Participation
Participation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Annual value

Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time

Use the slider below to see how democratic performance has changed over time

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