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Austrian People's Party - OVP

The Austrian People's Party (Osterreichische Volkspartei-- OVP) was created in Vienna in 1945 by leaders of the former Christian Social Party (Christlichsoziale Partei--CSP). The Christian Social Party was originally founded in 1891 after the successful merger of the small trade movement with the Catholic social reform movement.

After winning the elections for the National Assembly in October 1920, the Christian Social Party formed a government with the support of the German Nationals. Restoration of the state budget and the alleviation of poverty were still the central issues on the government’s agenda resulting in further social reforms. In May 1921 the government passed the "Angestelltengesetz" (Employment Law) regulating the rights of employees with regard to paid holidays, severance indemnity and retirement. Health insurance now also covered civil servants, agricultural and forestry workers, home workers and house maids. A new landlord and tenant law severely restricted the landlords’ right to cancel a contract and divided up rents into running costs, maintenance and actual rent.

Prelate Ignaz Seipel, the party's chairman from 1921 to 1929, was the biggest opponent of the Social Democrat Otto Bauer. Serving as Federal Chancellor in three governments from 1922 to 1924, Seipel signed the Geneva Protocols in October 1922 thereby obtaining a loan by the League of Nations which put an end to extreme post war inflation rates and initiated economic recovery in Austria.

In May 1932 Engelbert Dollfuss of the Christian Social Party became the new Federal Chancellor. The "self-elimination of Parliament" in March 1933 meant the end of the First Republic's parliamentarian democracy. Chancellor Dollfuss then proceeded to establish an authoritarian state replacing the political parties by a government of the "Vaterländische Front (Fatherland Front). On 27 September 1934 the Christian Social Party declared its dissolution.

The founders of the OVP made sure that the new party was only loosely tied to the Roman Catholic Church, unlike its predecessor. The OVP emerged as a conservative, democratic party based on Christian values that sought to include diverse interests. From 1945 to 1966, OVP politicians filled the post of chancellor in a series of grand coalition governments with the SPO (from 1945 to 1947, KPO members were also in the cabinet). From 1966 to 1970, the OVP ruled alone and thereafter entered a long period of opposition to the SPO, which ended in early 1987 when the two parties formed a new coalition government.

The OVP periodically revised its party program. During the 1945-55 period, the party advocated low taxes, reduced government expenditures, a balanced budget, and low wage increases. The OVP favored a limited government role in the economy. After much debate, in 1965 the party adopted the Klagenfurt Manifesto, which referred to the OVP as an "open people's party" of the "new center." The manifesto laid less emphasis than previous ones on the priority of personal property in a democracy. It also stressed the importance of expanding economic welfare and educational opportunities for all social groups.

After suffering losses in the 1970 parliamentary election, the OVP entered the opposition for the first time. A wide-ranging discussion of principles took place at all levels of the party. The outcome of this process was the 1972 Salzburg Program, which described the OVP as a "progressive center party" dedicated to integrating Austria's different social groups. The program reaffirmed the party's commitment to a free and independent country, a multiparty democracy, and a social market economy combining free enterprise and some government intervention. As of 1993, the Salzburg Program had not been replaced as the basic statement of OVP ideology.

The OVP had a less centralized form of party organization than the SPO as of the early 1990s. At the top is the party presidium, composed of the party chairman, the chancellor and vice chancellor (if they are members of the OVP), the general secretary, up to six deputies to the chairman, the leader of the party's parliamentary faction, and eight additional members drawn from the provinces and interest groups affiliated with the party. The party holds a national conference at least once every three years. Roughly 600 delegates from the provinces and the party's auxiliary organizations attend the conference, which elects the party chairman, the deputies, and the general secretary.

The auxiliary organizations play important roles in the OVP's internal workings. The key organizations are the League of Austrian Workers and Salaried Employees (Osterreichischer Arbeiter- und Angestelltenbund--OAAB), the League of Austrian Business (Osterreichischer Wirtschaftsbund--OWB), and the League of Austrian Farmers (Osterreichischer Bauernbund--OBB). These organizations represent the OVP in the chambers of labor, commerce, and agriculture, respectively. Until 1980 the leaders of these three groups were automatically placed on the party presidium. However, this practice was abandoned after many party members complained about undue influence by interest groups over OVP affairs. This reform was yet another indication of the erosion in the influence of the traditional Lager over Austrian society.

The majority of OVP members acquired party membership indirectly via one of the auxiliary organizations. Because of indirect membership, it was difficult to arrive at a precise figure for total membership in the OVP. At the beginning of the 1990s, the combined membership of the three leagues was about 800,000. Adding to this figure members of the women's, youth, and senior organizations, a total membership of 1.2 million was attained. However, the OVP's actual membership was about one-third smaller than this because many individuals belonged to more than one league or subgroup.

The independence of auxiliary organizations affiliated with the OVP means that there is a fairly high degree of intraparty disagreement over policies compared with the SPO and other Austrian parties. One major cleavage exists between the OAAB, which represents the interests of working people in the OVP, and the OWB, which speaks for business interests. The farmers' group, the OBB, has clashed with the OWB over the issue of whether Austria should join the European Union. Tensions between the wings of the party remained high even in the early 1990s, despite numerous partywide discussions of ideology designed to bring about consensus. Some experts believe that the cohesion of the Catholic-conservative Lager will be endangered if the OVP does not achieve a higher degree of party unity than that prevailing in 1993.

Alois Mock, who came from Lower Austria, one of the party's strongholds, held the position of party chairman from 1979 to 1989. As the party struggled with declining vote totals, many in the OVP concluded that his uncharismatic leadership style was a hindrance to a recovery at the polls. Mock withstood pressure for his ouster after the party's poor performance in the national election of 1986, and his stature temporarily increased when he became vice chancellor and foreign minister in the coalition government formed in early 1987 with the SPO. Discontent with Mock resurfaced quickly, however, and there were also disturbing signs of party disunity. After the heavy losses incurred by the OVP in the provincial elections in the spring of 1989, Mock's opponents pressed again for his resignation. At an emergency summit in April 1989, Mock was finally convinced to step down as party chairman. He also relinquished the post of vice chancellor. His replacement in both positions was Josef Riegler, a member of the OBB from Styria.

Riegler had served as agriculture minister between 1987 and 1989 and was known as a consensus seeker who would be able to get along well with the SPO. Riegler was also interested in developing new approaches to environmental problems, and many in the party hoped this would help the OVP regain some of the voters who had deserted it for the environmental, or Green, parties.

However, the devastating results of the October 1990 national election, in which the OVP's share of the vote declined by 9 percent, proved that the party's problems went much deeper than who held the post of party chairman. In May 1991, Riegler decided not to run again for the party chairmanship. Erhard Busek, a well-known OVP politician who had headed the party's Vienna branch between 1976 and 1989, won the election to succeed Riegler. At the same time, the party conference voted to reduce the number of the chairman's deputies from six to two, a sign that party members wanted to curb the influence of the interest groups.

From 1999 until 2006 it governed with the Freedom Party, and then, briefly, its splinter party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria. The OVP had the worst election result in its history in 2008, and then again in 2013 though it remained in second due to an increasingly fragmented party system.

The OVP is a member of the European People’s Party. According to Votewatch.eu the OVP has voted alongside its fellow EPP parties 94.8% of the time in this parliament, making it slightly more loyal than average among EPP member parties.