President of the Landtag (Austria)

The President of the Landtag is the title given to the chairpersons of the Landtag in the nine Austrian federal states .

history

The Imperial Constitution for the Austrian Empire, later known as the February Patent and issued by Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1861 , included the state regulations of the Austrian crown lands . In these it was determined that the state parliament is headed by a chairman, who is chosen by the emperor from among the members of the state parliament. Seven of these crown lands belong to today's Austria; Vienna was only elevated to a federal state in 1920, Burgenland only became a part of Austria in 1921.

In some of the federal states (six of today's seven federal states) the chairman of the state parliament was called governor , in Lower Austria he was called the state marshal . The chairman was also the chairman of the state committee - this was understood to mean the executive or executive committee of the state parliament, which led the autonomous state administration (i.e. the forerunner of today's state governments). The state-owned institutions was the state leader ( governor , in Salzburg and Carinthia: Country President ) against which the emperor as the representative of the monarch and the kk  was used government; his authority ( Lieutenancy ; provincial government in Salzburg and Carinthia ) directed the state offices active in the state (with the exception of the military sector).

Republican German Austria the state organs of the monarchy in November 1918 were abolished and used Provisional country meetings, until the spring of 1919 the provincial assemblies were first elected by all adult female and male country citizens. In 1920, the new Federal Constitution passed by the National Assembly created the framework for the division of roles between the Länder and the Federation in the Republic of Austria, which is still valid today. For the transitional regulations, see here . 1934-1945 the democratic structure was eliminated by two dictatorships.

choice

The Landtag President and his two deputies are elected by the Landtag at the beginning of each legislative period . The first session of a Landtag is usually convened by the President of the last Landtag; if no member of the former Presidium is represented in the Landtag, some rules of procedure know the role of the senior president . The president and his deputy may not belong to the state government . If the position of the president expires prematurely through resignation or death or if he is recalled by the state parliament, a new state parliament president must be elected.

function

The rights of the President of the State Parliament are similar in the individual state constitutions and rules of procedure of the state parliaments . The President of the State Parliament swears in the members of the State Parliament. He chairs the sessions of the state parliament and certifies the state laws passed by the state parliament; these are to be countersigned by the governor, who has no right of review or veto. The President of the State Parliament represents the State Parliament externally.

protocol

There is a conflict with the position of the governor regarding the protocol status of the state parliament president . Since there is no office at the federal state level corresponding to the Federal President , it is questionable who should act as the highest representative of the state. On the one hand, the governor is the highest executive body at the state level; on the other hand, the president of the state parliament assumes functions that the federal president has at the federal level, such as the drafting of laws.

In the federal minutes, the Federal President is followed by the President of the National Council and the President of the Federal Council in front of the Federal Chancellor . The question of who exercises the role of head of the state remains open. The protocol is mostly based on realpolitical conditions and classifies the governor above the president of the state parliament.

List of the current presidents of the state parliaments of the Austrian federal states

Parliament	Official
Burgenland	Verena Dunst ( SPÖ )
Carinthia	Reinhart Rohr ( SPÖ )
Lower Austria	Karl Wilfing ( ÖVP )
Upper Austria	Wolfgang Stanek ( ÖVP )
Salzburg	Brigitta Pallauf ( ÖVP )
Styria	Manuela Khom ( ÖVP )
Tyrol	Sonja Ledl-Rossmann ( ÖVP )
Vorarlberg	Harald Sonderegger ( ÖVP )
Vienna	Ernst Woller ( SPÖ )