President of the National Council


President of the National Council


Acting President of the National Council Wolfgang Sobotka since December 20, 2017

Official seat	Temporary: Redoutensaal tract , Hofburg , Vienna Normal: Parliament building , Vienna , AustriaAustria
Chairman of	National Council (and alternately with the President of the Federal Council : Federal Assembly )
Elected by	National Council
Deputy	Second and third President of the National Council

website	www.parlament.gv.at

Doris Bures , Second President of the National Council

Norbert Hofer , Third President of the National Council

The President of the National Council (short mostly National Council ) is the chairman of the National Council , the first chamber of the Austrian parliament .

Wolfgang Sobotka ( ÖVP ) has been President of the National Council since December 20, 2017 . The deputies are the second president, currently Doris Bures ( SPÖ ), and the third president, since October 23, 2019 Norbert Hofer ( FPÖ ). Together they form the Presidium of the National Council.

The office in Austria, like the Federal President , is an institution of identity creation and non-partisan politics.

choice

The President, the Second and the Third President are elected by the National Council from among its members at the beginning of the legislative period ; if the office becomes vacant during a legislative period, a new election takes place, as was the case for Doris Bures in September 2014. The legal basis is Article 30 of the Federal Constitutional Act (B-VG).

Even after the National Council is dissolved, the Presidium remains in office until the newly elected National Council determines its chairmanship. This also applies if the president of the old legislative period no longer holds a mandate in the new period. This was most recently the case with President Andreas Khol , who did not run in the 2006 National Council elections and continued to hold the chair until his successor Barbara Prammer was elected .

As early as the First Republic, the unwritten law became established that the party with the highest vote provides the President of the National Council. In the Second Republic it has become a political practice that the party with the highest mandate provides the president, the second with the second president and the third with the third president of the National Council.

tasks

The tasks of the President or his deputy are regulated in detail in the National Council Rules of Procedure (GOGNR) . The President manages the business of the National Council and, in agreement with the Second and Third Presidents, prepares the budget for the National Council. He represents the National Council externally and has to ensure that the dignity and rights of the National Council are preserved. He calls him to his meetings and chairs the meetings - in practice alternating with the Second and Third Presidents. He handles the rules of procedure and ensures compliance with them (in particular the maintenance of calm and order in the meeting room), exercises house rules in the parliament building and has all employing powers for the staff of the parliamentary management (appointment of staff, personnel matters). In the Federal Assembly , the President of the National Council holds the chair alternately with the President of the Federal Council .

The three presidents of the National Council and the club chairmen form the Presidential Conference, an advisory body on parliamentary work in the National Council (e.g. on the agenda, meeting dates).

The Presidency of the National Council as a college is appointed to represent the Federal President both in the event of prolonged absence and in the event of permanent completion of the Federal President's position, e.g. through resignation, death or dismissal. This ensures that its control function vis-à-vis the government and similar mechanisms is not lost.

Termination of function

According to the rules of procedure, the function ends automatically with the election of the successor in the following legislative period. Premature termination can only take place through the resignation of the respective President himself, through the loss of the National Council mandate and through death. However, he cannot be voted out or removed.

In March 1933, all three Presidents of the National Council resigned in a turbulent session. The Federal Government Dollfuss used this to speak of the " self-elimination of parliament " and to prevent the reassembly of the National Council. In 1975 the rule was introduced in Section 6, Paragraphs 2–4 of the GOGNR that in such a case the oldest MP present in Vienna is obliged to convene the National Council and hold presidential elections without being requested to do so.

Efforts to make changes to the rules of procedure, which also allow termination by voting out with a two-thirds majority, were made by the President of the National Council, Prammer, as a result of statements by the third President Martin Graf in May 2009 and starting again in May 2012.

After the previous President of the National Council, Barbara Prammer, had to go to hospital for a long time at the beginning of July 2014 due to complications in connection with her cancer, she handed over the office to her deputy Karlheinz Kopf on July 1st . After Prammer's death on August 2, 2014, the office of President of the National Council was vacant until September 2, 2014.

First Republic (1918–1933)

Surname	Term of office	Political party
National Assembly President of the First Republic
Karl Seitz , President of the Provisional National Assembly (1)	October 21, 1918 -4. March 1919	SDAP
Jodok Fink and Johann Nepomuk Hauser , President (1, 2)	October 21, 1918 -4. March 1919	CS
Franz Dinghofer , President (1)	October 21, 1918 -4. March 1919	German national movement
Karl Seitz , President of the Constituent National Assembly (3)	March 4. 1919 -10. November 1920	SDAP

(1) The three Presidents of the Provisional National Assembly had equal rights and alternated weekly in the three functions of President in the House (= Chairman of the National Assembly), President in the Council (= Chairman of the Council of State ) and President in the Cabinet (= Chairman of the State Government).

(2) Jodok Fink resigned after the first meeting on October 21, 1918; from the second meeting on October 30, 1918, Johann Hauser officiated.

(3) The functions of head of state associated with the presidency were exercised by Karl Seitz until December 9, 1920, the day the first federal president was elected .

Surname	Term of office	Political party
President of the National Council of the First Republic
Richard Weiskirchner	1920 - 1923	CS
Wilhelm Miklas	1923 - 1928	CS
Alfred Gürtler	1928 - 1930	CS
Matthias Eldersch	1930 - 1931	SDAP
Karl Renner	1931 - 1933	SDAP

Surname	Term of office	Political party
Second President of the National Council of the First Republic
Matthias Eldersch	November 10, 1920 - December 14, 1920	SDAP
Karl Seitz	1920 - 1923	SDAP
Matthias Eldersch	1923 - 1930	SDAP
Rudolf Ramek	1930 - 1933	CS

Surname	Term of office	Political party
Third President of the National Council of the First Republic
Franz Dinghofer	1920 - 1926	GdP
Leopold Waber	1926 - 1930	GdP
Sepp Straffner	1930 - 1931	GdP
Stephan Tauschitz	1931 - 1932	LBd
Sepp Straffner	1932 - 1933	GdP

Second Republic (since 1945)

Surname	Term of office	Political party
President of the National Council of the Second Republic
Leopold Kunschak	1945 - 1953	ÖVP
Felix Hurdes	1953 - 1959	ÖVP
Leopold Figl	1959 - 1962	ÖVP
Alfred Maleta	1962 - 1970	ÖVP
Karl Waldbrunner	1970 - 1971	SPÖ
Anton Benya	1971 - 1986	SPÖ
Leopold Gratz	1986 - 1989	SPÖ
Rudolf Poeder	1989 - 1990	SPÖ
Heinz Fischer	1990 - 2002	SPÖ
Andreas Khol	2002 - 2006	ÖVP
Barbara Prammer	2006 - 2014 †	SPÖ
Doris Bures	2014 - 2017	SPÖ
Elisabeth Köstinger	November 9, 2017 –17. December 2017	ÖVP
Wolfgang Sobotka	2017 -	ÖVP

Surname	Term of office	Political party
Second President of the National Council of the Second Republic
Johann Boehm	1945 - 1959	SPÖ
Franz Olah	1959 - 1961	SPÖ
Friedrich Hillegeist	1961 - 1962	SPÖ
Karl Waldbrunner	1962 - 1970	SPÖ
Alfred Maleta	1970 - 1975	ÖVP
Roland Minkowitsch	1975 - 1986	ÖVP
Marga Hubinek	1986 - 1990	ÖVP
Robert Lichal	1990 - 1994	ÖVP
Heinrich Neisser	1994 - 1999	ÖVP
Thomas Prinzhorn	1999 - 2002	FPÖ
Heinz Fischer	2002 - 2004	SPÖ
Barbara Prammer	2004 - 2006	SPÖ
Michael Spindelegger	2006 - 2008	ÖVP
Fritz Neugebauer	2008 - 2013	ÖVP
Karlheinz head	2013 - 2017	ÖVP
Doris Bures	2017 -	SPÖ

Surname	Term of office	Political party
Third President of the National Council of the Second Republic
Alfons Gorbach	1945 - 1953	ÖVP
Karl Hartleb	1953 - 1956	WdU
Alfons Gorbach	1956 - 1961	ÖVP
Alfred Maleta	1961 - 1962	ÖVP
Josef Wallner	1962 - 1970	ÖVP
Otto Probst	1970 - 1978	SPÖ
Herbert Pansi	1978 - 1979	SPÖ
Rudolf Thalhammer	1979 - 1983	SPÖ
Gerulf Stix	1983 - 1990	FPÖ
Siegfried Dillersberger	March 15, 1990 - November 4, 1990	FPÖ
Heide Schmidt	1990 - 1994	FPÖ, Liberal Forum
Herbert Haupt	1994 - 1996	FPÖ
Willi Brauneder	1996 - 1999	FPÖ
Andreas Khol	1999 - 2000	ÖVP
Werner Fasslabend	2000 - 2002	ÖVP
Thomas Prinzhorn	2002 - 2006	FPÖ
Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek	2006 - 2008	Green
Martin Graf	2008 - 2013	FPÖ
Norbert Hofer	2013 - 2017	FPÖ
Anneliese Kitzmüller	2017 - 2019	FPÖ
Norbert Hofer	2019 -	FPÖ

Web links

Wiktionary: President of the National Council - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

↑ Constituent meeting: Sobotka elected as President of the National Council. In: ORF.at . October 23, 2019, accessed October 23, 2019 .
↑ Presidium In: General glossary on the website of the Austrian Parliament, accessed on May 13, 2019: "Presidium of the National Council - The President, the Second and the Third President form the Presidium of the National Council."
^ ÖVP does not want to allow Graf to be voted out of office. ÖVP against event legislation - constitutionalists disagree - special presidents convened. In: derStandard.at / APA , May 28, 2009, accessed on May 13, 2019.
^ Causa Graf: Prammer wants to create the option of deselection. Prammer wants the President of the National Council to be voted out of office with a two-thirds majority. The ÖVP insists on the Constitutional Court being responsible. In: Die Presse / APA , May 29, 2012, accessed May 13, 2019.
↑ Count still in distress. In: ORF.at, June 9, 2012, accessed on May 13, 2019.
↑ Eilt-Aviso: President of the National Council Barbara Prammer has passed away. In: Parliamentary Correspondence No. 743 of August 2, 2014.

[orf3141848-1] Constituent meeting: Sobotka elected as President of the National Council. In: ORF.at . October 23, 2019, accessed October 23, 2019 .

[2] Presidium In: General glossary on the website of the Austrian Parliament, accessed on May 13, 2019: "Presidium of the National Council - The President, the Second and the Third President form the Presidium of the National Council."

[3] ÖVP does not want to allow Graf to be voted out of office. ÖVP against event legislation - constitutionalists disagree - special presidents convened. In: derStandard.at / APA , May 28, 2009, accessed on May 13, 2019.

[4] Causa Graf: Prammer wants to create the option of deselection. Prammer wants the President of the National Council to be voted out of office with a two-thirds majority. The ÖVP insists on the Constitutional Court being responsible. In: Die Presse / APA , May 29, 2012, accessed May 13, 2019.

[5] Count still in distress. In: ORF.at, June 9, 2012, accessed on May 13, 2019.

[6] Eilt-Aviso: President of the National Council Barbara Prammer has passed away. In: Parliamentary Correspondence No. 743 of August 2, 2014.