The Current Austrian Political Crisis can be Solved by Changing the Electoral System, Conservatives Argue – News Analysis
Photo: Proponents of the Initiative Mehrheitswahlrecht at a press conference at Presseclub Concordia, April 24, 2008. Heinrich Neisser seated in the center.
Throughout April and May 2008, some of the predominantly Conservative Austrian political elite, led by the Initiative Mehrheitswahlrecht (Initiative Majority Voting System) and its chairman Heinrich Neisser and ventilated by the Conservative daily Die Presse, reopened a public debate with a proposed change of the Austrian electoral system for general elections.
Ever since the country has a new Grand Coalition between the Socialdemocrats (SPÖ) and the Conservative ÖVP since January 2007, critical voices not only from its opposition but also within both parties voiced their doubts on the effectiveness of the current government, which regularly seems to disintegrate and at the verge of collapse.
Neisser, former Conservative MP and Second President of the Austrian Parliament, as well as other influential proponents of the committee, including former ORF General Intendant Gerd Bacher, Socialdemocratic Historian Norbert Leser and Profil-Columnist Peter Michael Lingens, believe that a clear parliamentary single-party majority is essential for a stable government, able to tackle the critical problems, like healthcare and pension reforms, or a the overhaul of the Austrian Constitution.
The current grand coalition government, led by Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer (Socialdemocrats) and Vice Chancellor Wilhem Molterer (Conservatives), though supported with a large parliamentary support of almost 70% – the SPÖ gained 35.3 % and ÖVP gained 34.3 % of the votes in the October 2006 General Elections and jointly they are able to push though constitutional changes for which a 2/3 majority is needed – however, in the eyes of the Initiative, it has not seriously touched on any of those projects so far since in power in January 2007.
In a press conference, held at the Presseclub Concordia on April 24, Gerd Bacher referred to the government’s overall performance that “within the history of quadriplegic grand coalitions, the currently is the worst of its kind.” Consequently, the proponents blame the current situation on the electoral system, which brought, in their view, no clear a result, but instead limited coalition options, forcing parties from the contrary political spectrum into one government.
Therefore, the Initiative strongly proposed for the proportional electoral system to be abolished and a voting system based on personal representation, as in the United States or Great Britain, should be introduced.
The Initiative’s manifesto, published also on the Internet, states that they aim for the realization of a “personality oriented and minority-friendly majority voting system” by which all five political parties represented in the Austrian Parliament today would still be present. However, there is no specific reference as to how this “protected species regulation” for the smaller parties, as Gerd Bacher provocatively termed it, should be realized in practice.
“It is important that all parties, whether useful or not – and in my understanding most are, however, useless – remain (in Parliament),” he added. Read the rest of this entry »
