Christian Party of Austria

Christian Party of Austria Christliche Partei Österreichs
Leader	Rudolf Gehring
Founded	15 October 2005
Ideology	Social conservatism Euroscepticism
Religion	Christianity
Official colours	Yellow
National Council:	0 / 183
Federal Council:	0 / 62
European Parliament:	0 / 19
Website
www.diechristen.at
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The Christian Party of Austria (German: Christliche Partei Österreichs, CPÖ; formerly the Christians – German: Die Christen) are a minor political party in Austria, founded on 15 October 2005.

It changed its name under its new chairman Rudolf Gehring in late 2009, partially due to concerns by the Catholic Church over the use of the term "Christians" to mean only the party.

History

The party was officially registered on 23 January 2006 and officially presented to the public on 27 September 2007, when it announced a Volksbegehren on the topic of children and families and also announced it would contest the 2008 election in Lower Austria.

In the 2008 parliamentary election, the party received 0.64% of the vote.

Rudolf Gehring, the party's chairman, aanounced he would run for president in the 2010 election. In the absence of an Austrian People's Party candidate, Gehring received 5.44% of the vote for a distant third place, which nonetheless represents the party's highest vote in a national election to date.

Program

The party is oriented mainly on Christian politics, advocating, for example:

• Revoking the recognition of same-sex unions
• Giving parents the right to vote for their children
• More religiosity in schools
• Outlawing (or keeping illegal) of abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research and artificial insemination
• Protection of the belief in a Creator God, stating that the importance of this belief "demands respect from other creeds and atheists", as well

External links

• Official homepage