List of political parties in Austria

Austria

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This article lists political parties in Austria. Austria has a multi-party system. Of the over 700 registered political parties, only few are known to the larger public. Since the 1980s, four parties have consistently received enough votes to get seats in the national parliament.

The parties

Parties represented in Parliament or the European Parliament

There are six parties represented in the National Council, including The Freedomites in Carinthia, which cooperates with the national Freedom Party of Austria.

Five of the parties in the National Council (all but the Alliance for the Future of Austria) are also represented in the Federal Council, as is the Tyrol-based Citizens' Forum Austria.

Five of the six parties in the National Council (all but The Freedomites in Carinthia) are represented in the European Parliament, as is the anti-corruption Hans-Peter Martin's List.

Name		Abbr.	Ideology	Leader	NR	BR	MEPs	Notes
	Social Democratic Party of Austria Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs	SPÖ	Centre-left, social democracy	Werner Faymann	57	22	5
	Austrian People's Party Österreichische Volkspartei	ÖVP	Centre-right, Christian democracy	Michael Spindelegger	51	27	6
	Freedom Party of Austria Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs	FPÖ	Right-wing populism, national conservatism	Heinz-Christian Strache	34	7	2
	The Freedomites in Carinthia Die Freiheitlichen in Kärnten	FPK	Right-wing populism, national conservatism, Carinthian regionalism	Uwe Scheuch	3	2	0
	Alliance for the Future of Austria Bündnis Zukunft Österreich	BZÖ	Centre-right, conservative liberalism	Josef Bucher	17	0	1
	The Greens – The Green Alternative Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative	GRÜNE	Centre-left, green politics, social progressivism	Eva Glawischnig	20	3	2
	Citizens' Forum Austria Bürgerforum Österreich	FRITZ	Centrism, Tyrolean regionalism	Fritz Dinkhauser	0	1	0
	Hans-Peter Martin's List Liste Hans-Peter Martin	HPM	Anti-corruption politics, Pro Transparency	Hans-Peter Martin	0	0	1
A Common FPÖ/FPK faction in the Nationalrat; FPK runs only in Carinthia, FPÖ elsewhere.

Parties represented in state parliaments

• Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Österreichs) (KPÖ)
• List Burgenland (Liste Burgenland) (LBL)

Minor parties

• Animal Rights Party (Tierrechtspartei) (TRP)
• Black-Yellow Alliance (Schwarz-Gelbe Allianz) (SGA)
• Christian Electoral Community (Christliche Wählergemeinschaft) (CWG)
• Christian Party of Austria (Christliche Partei Österreichs) (CPÖ)
• Communist Initiative (Kommunistische Initiative) (KI)
• Enotna Lista (Unity List) (EL)
• Left (Linke) (LINKE)
• Liberal Forum (Liberales Forum) (LiF)
• Neutral Free Austria (Neutrales Freies Österreich) (NFÖ)
• Pirate Party of Austria (Piratenpartei Österreichs) (PPÖ)
• Save Austria (Rettet Österreich) (RETTÖ)
• Socialist Left Party (Sozialistische LinksPartei) (SLP)
• The Social Liberals (Die Sozialliberalen) (SoL)
• Young Liberals Austria (Junge Liberale Österreich) (JuLis)

Major historical parties

• Christian Social Party (Christlichsoziale Partei) (CS) (1893-1933)
• Country League (Landbund) (1918-1934)
• Fatherland's Front (Vaterländische Front) (VF) (1933-1938)
• Federation of Independents (Verband der Unabhängigen) (VdU) (1949-1955)
• Greater German People's Party (Großdeutsche Volkspartei) (GDVP) (1918-1938)
• National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) (Nazi Party) (1919-1945)
• Social Democratic Workers Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs) (SDAPÖ) (1888-1934), predecessor of today's SPÖ

Minor historical parties

• Communist League of Austria (Kommunistischer Bund Österreichs) (KBÖ) (1976-1980)
• League of Democratic Socialists (Bund Demokratischer Sozialisten) (BDS)
• Marxist-Leninist Party of Austria (Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Österreichs) (MLPÖ)
• The Democrats (Die Demokraten)
• The Independents (Die Unabhängigen) (DU)
• Union of Revolutionary Workers of Austria (Marxist-Leninist) (Vereinigung Revolutionärer Arbeiter Österreichs (Marxisten-Leninisten)) (VRAÖ)

See also

• Politics of Austria
• List of political parties by country
• History of Austria
• Liberalism in Austria

Further reading

• Müller, Wolfgang; and Franz Fallend (November 2004). "Changing Patterns of Party Competition in Austria: From Multipolar to Bipolar System". West European Politics 27 (5): 801–835. doi:10.1080/0140238042000283319.