Federal representation of students

The Federal Representation of Students (mostly only briefly Federal Representation , abbreviated BV ; until June 30, 1999: Central Committee , abbreviated ZA ) is the decision- making collegiate body of the Austrian Students' Union . Their term of office begins on July 1st of each election year and lasts for two years. In a figurative sense, “federal representation” often stands pars pro toto for the corporation itself.

tasks

The Federal Representation elects the chairman of the Austrian Students' Union from among its mandataries. The ÖH chairman then proposes the speakers for election. The latter do not have to be mandataries of the federal representation themselves.

The Federal Representation issues the statutes of the Austrian Students' Union with a two-thirds majority . It regulates the establishment of the units . On the basis of the statutes, the resolution of the annual budget and the annual financial statements also fall within the remit of the federal representation.

Postings to the Federal Youth Representation and other state bodies as well as to international organizations such as the European Students' Union are also part of the tasks of the Federal Representation. The lists (campaigning groups who have won mandates) have the right to make suggestions; the available places are distributed by means of the D'Hondt process according to the result of the last ÖH elections. In order to rule out misuse, an overall proposal must be voted on for each posting. A two-thirds majority is required to recall the posted worker.

Chairperson

In addition to chairing the meetings of the federal representative body, the chairman is responsible for the external representation of the Austrian student body. However, the conclusion of legal transactions requires the approval of the economic officer. The chairman of the Federal Representation chairs the three chairman conferences (the university representatives, the educational university representatives and the technical college student representatives ). Chairpersons can delegate tasks to their deputies. This can be done either at your own risk (which can be revoked at any time) by means of a written or verbal order, or by means of a resolution by the Federal Representation. In this case, the competencies are permanently transferred, the deputies then act on their own responsibility.

historical development

The Central Committee was set up in 1945 by the ordinance of the State Office for Public Enlightenment, for Teaching and Education and for Cultural Affairs of September 3, 1945 on student self-administration at universities of the academic and artistic fields. This ordinance with legal force on the basis of the Austro-Fascist “Higher Education Authorization Act” from 1935 set up the Austrian student union as a nationwide representation of university students with Austrian citizenship as public bodies (and additionally the individual Austrian student bodies at the universities as university- related representations).

Due to a ruling by the Constitutional Court , the regulation had to be replaced in 1950 by a separate student union law. Instead of the parallel existing student bodies at the individual universities and the nationwide Austrian student body , there was from now on only one unified Austrian student body with the levels of student councils , main committees and central committee . The composition of the central committee was now regulated at the statutory level and no longer through the election regulations. The mandataries were determined according to a mixed delegation and election model: The chairmen of the main committees (later university representatives ) and the chairmen of the student council committees (later: faculty representatives ) at faculties with more than 1,500 voters were automatically voting members of the central committee. So that the majority in the central committee also corresponded to the election result, the body was supplemented by a corresponding number (but not more than 16) further members entitled to vote, the chairmen being assigned to their respective campaigning groups (parliamentary groups).

With the new Student Union Act (HSG 1973) announced in 1973, separate bodies were again set up for the individual university representatives. The name “Central Committee” was retained, but the delegation system was abolished. All mandataries were now directly elected, and the chairmen of the main committees only had one advisory vote. Until 1985 the central committee comprised one mandate for every 1,500 active voters, after which the number of mandates was fixed at 65.

After lengthy deliberations, a completely new Student Union Act ( HSG 1998 ) was passed in 1998 . The central committee was consequently renamed “Federal Representation” (after the committee character had ceased to exist since 1973). The number of mandates was reduced compared to the HSG in 1973 and set at 45. In 2004, an amendment to the HSG in 1998 abolished the direct election of the federal student body and replaced it with an indirect election. As a result, the number of mandates increased again significantly to over 60 mandates. As a result of the integration of the university of applied sciences students, the number of mandates awarded in the ÖH elections in 2009 jumped again; for the first time since the early 1980s, the nationwide representative body again comprised more than 80 mandataries. The new HSG, which was negotiated with the Ministry of Science in 2014 by consensus among all major ÖH parliamentary groups, resulted in a reduction to 55 mandates and a return to the original electoral system, which means that the federal representation has been directly elected since 2015.

Suffrage

The federal representation consists of 55 elected mandataries who are elected every two years in the course of the ÖH elections in May of every odd year by all regular students in Austria. In addition, the 21 chairpersons of the university representatives and the chairpersons of the university representatives at universities of teacher education and technical colleges are members of the federal representation with an advisory voice and the right to submit proposals. The speakers are also advisory members of the Federal Representation, but their right to apply is restricted to matters relating to their respective department.

Federal Representation Elections (before 1999: Central Committee)

year	Eligible voters a	Mandates b	Turnout a , b	Body	Election mode
2019	337.932	55	25.82%	Federal representation	Direct dial
2017	331,066 k	55	24.48% y	Federal representation	Direct dial
2015	324,602 i	55	25.89% i	Federal representation	Direct dial
2013	245,641 h	100 h 1	27.97% h	Federal representation	Posting
2011	247,897 g	96 g 2	28.45% g	Federal representation	Posting
2009	230,526 c	85 c 3	25.70% c	Federal representation	Posting
2007	203,116 c	66 c 4	28.72% c	Federal representation	Posting
2005	197,435 d	62 d 5	30.52% d	Federal representation	Posting
2003	184,498	45	29.9% c	Federal representation	Direct dial
2001	217.611	45	27.9%	Federal representation	Direct dial
1999	211,702	45	27.5%	Federal representation	Direct dial
1997	235.126	65	27.6%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1995	231,826	65	29.3%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1993	223,820	65	31.5%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1991	210.414	65	30.6%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1989	205.011	65	30.1%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1987	187,643	65	34.7%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1985	167,823	65	29.8%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1983	134.083	89	36.3%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1981	133.198	89	34.7%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1979	111,972	75	32.6%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1977	97,776	65	38.7%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1975	78,360	55	39.6%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1974	78,238	53	33%	Central Committee	Direct dial
1971	52.271	34	43%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1969	47.208	34	53%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1967	41,212	41	64%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1965	40,035	37	70%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1963	36,928	37	68%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1961	32,611	35	65%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1959	21,452	31	70%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1957	15,319	31	62%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1955	15,082	31	62%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1953	15,366 e	30th	70%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1951	approx. 20,500 f	24	61%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1949	24,491	22nd	59%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1948	27,702	23	66%	Central Committee	Delegation + direct election
1946	26,900	21st	77%	Central Committee	Delegation + two mandates each for the university organizations of the ÖVP , SPÖ and KPÖ

¹ 75 mandates are assigned to the university, 17 to the technical college and 8 to the educational university representatives

² 73 mandates belong to the university, 18 to the technical college and 5 to the educational university representatives

³ 65 mandates go to the university, 16 to the technical college and 4 to the educational university representatives

^4th62 mandates go to the university representatives, 4 mandates to the electoral community (Pedagogical Academies and Linz Art University )

⁵ 58 mandates go to the university representatives, 4 mandates to the electoral community (Pedagogical Academies and Linz Art University)

^aFigures for 1946–2003 and voter turnout 1946–1974 from the brochure 60 Years of the ÖH (unless otherwise stated)

^b Seat figures from 1946–1981 and voter turnout from 1975–2001

^cFigures for 2003, 2007 and 2009 taken from FM4 election reports

^dFigures for 2005 taken from an election analysis of students at the University of Innsbruck

^eNumber of eligible voters from the daily newspaper Die Presse , quoted from

^fNumber of eligible voters 20,577 from Josef Hochgerner's student policy after the revolt , 20,441 from the daily newspaper Die Presse . Both cited from

^G2011 figures taken from FM4's election reports

^H2013 figures taken from FM4's election reports

ⁱFigures for 2015 taken from FM4's election reports

ⁱFigures for 2017 taken from FM4's election reports

^k Figures for 2017 calculated from the announcement of the 2017 election results

literature

• Alexander Egger and Thomas Frad: Student Union Act and Student Residence Act . Introduction, texts, materials, decisions, comments. WUV University Press, Vienna 2000, ISBN 978-3-85114-444-4 .
• Stefan Huber: ÖH law . Student Union Act with ancillary provisions. 3rd revised edition. New Scientific Publishing House, Vienna / Graz 2009, ISBN 978-3-7083-0608-7 .

Web links

• Statutes of the Austrian Students' Union (PDF; 5.2 MB) in the version dated May 18, 2016
• Approved minutes of the meetings of the Federal Representation since the 2009–2011 term

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Egger / Frad, p. 67
2. ↑ Egger / Frad, p. 46
3. ↑ Christian Bruckner: 1950s. (PDF, 4.6 MB) In: 60 Years of the ÖH. 2006, p. 20. , archived from the original on March 14, 2013 ; Retrieved November 5, 2009 . 
4. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 174/1950 : Student Union Act from 1950
5. ^ University of Applied Sciences Act 1973
6. ↑ Student Union Act 1998
7. ↑ ^{a b} Student Union Act 2014
8. ^ ÖH election committee: election results. Retrieved June 23, 2019 . 
9. ^ Christian Bruckner: ÖH election results 1946-2005. (PDF, 4.6 MB) In: 60 Years of the ÖH. 2006, p. 52. , archived from the original on March 14, 2013 ; Retrieved November 5, 2009 . 
10. ^ Michael Hasenöhrl: Student elections in Austria . The Austrian Students' Union (ÖH) 1946-2001. Vienna 2002, p. 25–36 (seminar paper for “Seminar from Austrian Regime Doctrine: Empirical Election Research” with Peter Ulram and Rainer Alexandrowicz).
11. ^ ÖH elections 2009: The results. In: FM4.orf.at. Retrieved November 16, 2009 . 
12. ↑ Monika Himsl: ÖH election 2007. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved November 16, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
13. ^ ^{A b} Michael Hasenöhrl: Student elections in Austria . The Austrian Students' Union (ÖH) 1946-2001. Vienna 2002, p. 26 (Seminar paper for “Seminar from Austrian Regime Doctrine: Empirical Election Research” with Peter Ulram and Rainer Alexandrowicz).
14. ^ ÖH elections 2011: The results. In: FM4.orf.at. Retrieved September 17, 2011 . 
15. ^ ÖH elections 2013: The results. In: FM4.orf.at. Retrieved May 2, 2015 . 
16. ^ ÖH elections 2015: The results. In: FM4.orf.at. Retrieved February 6, 2017 . 
17. ^ ÖH elections 2015: The results. In: FM4.orf.at. Retrieved November 17, 2017 . 
18. ↑ Announcement of the election results. In: Election Commission at the Austrian Students' Union. Retrieved May 17, 2019 .