Popular survey on conscription in Austria 2013
On January 20, 2013, a referendum on conscription was carried out in Austria . The people were asked whether conscription should be abolished. The first Austria-wide referendum is not legally binding, but the governing parties SPÖ and ÖVP announced in advance that they would adhere to the result. ÖVP and FPÖ spoke out in favor of maintaining compulsory military service, SPÖ and the Greens in favor of a professional army . With 59.7% of the vote and a voter turnout of 52.4%, it was voted in favor of maintaining conscription.
Starting position
In the course of the Vienna election campaign in October 2010 , Vienna’s mayor Michael Häupl ( SPÖ ) questioned conscription and called for a referendum on this. The previous party line for compulsory military service, which Minister Darabos described as “carved in stone” just a few days earlier, was turned 180 degrees for electoral reasons.
In August 2012, ÖVP boss Michael Spindelegger announced that, contrary to its previous line, the ÖVP had agreed with the SPÖ on a referendum on the question of conscription.
The voters should decide between the models propagated by the SPÖ (“ Are you in favor of introducing a professional army and a paid voluntary social year? ”) And ÖVP (“ Are you in favor of maintaining general conscription and community service? ”).
On November 9, 2012, Federal President Heinz Fischer signed the Federal Government's proposal to allow the referendum on the subject of conscription or the professional army to take place on January 20, 2013. November 28th was confirmed as the deadline . Anyone who was in the electoral register by that day was allowed to take part in the referendum.
A referendum is not legally binding on the government, but the coalition of the SPÖ and ÖVP announced in advance of the survey that it would adhere to the result and “work out reform proposals accordingly”.
Number of voters
The Federal Ministry of the Interior announced the final number of voters for the referendum on December 27, 2012: According to this, 6,379,511 Austrian citizens aged 16 and over were entitled to vote, including 3,309,716 women and 3,069,795 men.
Compared to the federal presidential election in 2010 , the number of voters increased by 23,711 (+0.37%). The number of women entitled to vote increased by 2,350 (+0.07%), the number of men with voting rights by 21,361 (+ 0.70%).
The number of Austrians abroad entitled to vote was 40,280, which corresponds to a decrease of 8,163 voters (−16.85%) compared to the 2010 federal presidential election.
Compared to the federal presidential election in 2010, the number of eligible voters increased the most in Tyrol and Vorarlberg , each with around 1%, while Carinthia was the only federal state to show a decrease in the number of eligible voters (−0.66%).
Positions of the parties represented in Parliament
The three largest parties SPÖ, ÖVP and FPÖ have changed their positions on the issue several times in the recent past.
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ)
The SPÖ is for the introduction of a professional army and a voluntary "social year". The party cites the international trend in this question as reasons for the introduction (at the time of the referendum, 21 of 27 EU member states had a professional army ), as well as a “change in defense policy challenges in the 21st century” towards the defense against cybercrime and the Fighting terrorism for which a “mass army” is not suitable. The community service is to be replaced by volunteers who commit to a year of social service. According to calculations by Social Minister Rudolf Hundstorfer , this system should not cost more than the previous one.
While the official party line advocates a professional army, some state politicians, such as governor Gabi Burgstaller , who pleads for further development, or Franz Voves , who opposes the complex issue in the referendum , deviate from it.
The “ Stamokap ” current in the SJÖ also spoke out in favor of maintaining conscription and against a professional army.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung commented after the election: And the SPÖ did not understand its own people either. For 70 years, Social Democrats have railed against a professional army because it was professional soldiers who cartatted down workers in 1934. The change of heart that was to be pushed through was an attack on the soul of the party.
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP)
The ÖVP sees compulsory military service as an “indispensable contribution for Austria”, as it is essential for maintaining Austria's sovereignty and neutrality , for disaster control and for supporting the social system (through civil service). However, the party sees a need for reform in compulsory military service and wants to redesign it on the basis of the proposals of the Federal Army Reform Commission so that basic military servants can "use their time sensibly". The Süddeutsche Zeitung commented after the election: the ÖVP ... has emotionalized the issue and picked up people where direct democracy is questionable. She has spread the fear that with the abolition of compulsory military service and community service, the ambulance will come too late in the future and no one will help with floods. It had little to do with international security issues.
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ)
The FPÖ also spoke out in favor of maintaining conscription. The FPÖ sees Swiss neutrality as a role model (Switzerland can do without a professional army). In addition, aid organizations would “suffer massively from the loss of community service”. The FPÖ also sees a need to reform compulsory military service and wants to limit the armed forces missions abroad to UN peace missions and reintroduce assistance missions at the Austrian borders .
The Greens - The Green Alternative (GREEN)
The Greens are in favor of the abolition of conscription. The reason given by the party is that Austria is not being threatened militarily and that since 1989 “all neighboring countries have gradually joined NATO ” (apart from Switzerland and Liechtenstein ). A professional army is the "normal European case"; conscription is only used in countries with external EU borders. In addition, the Federal Ministry of the Interior could take over the remaining tasks of the previous armed forces. However, the Greens were not ready to support Defense Minister Darabos' professional army model.
Alliance Future Austria (BZÖ)
The BZÖ is in favor of the "suspension of general conscription and the creation of a professional professional army with a volunteer militia", but called the referendum a "party-politically motivated diversionary maneuver" and called for a boycott of the survey. The party criticizes the ideological swing of the two governing parties: For ideological reasons, the SPÖ has always opposed a professional army and uses the referendum to mobilize votes for the 2013 National Council election , the ÖVP, as a former supporter of joining NATO, is out to vote for to achieve an “election victory” for compulsory military service.
Team Stronach
In its basic program, the Stronach team provides for the introduction of a professional army with a voluntary component, but did not make any election recommendations. Neutrality should be maintained and Austria should assume a self-confident role within a “European security architecture”.
Positions of the parties not represented in parliament
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)
The CPA advocates at the federal level for the abolition of the armed forces of anti-militarist of considerations. It calls for people to vote invalid and to write “abolish the army” on the ballot paper. Abolition would send a clear signal for a neutrality policy and save considerable resources which could be used for social purposes. The Communist Party of Styria rejects a professional army and recommended voting in favor of maintaining compulsory military service and community service. A professional army primarily serves foreign missions and is not strongly anchored in society. The voluntary social year would lead to wage dumping . The abolition of the armed forces is rejected because, according to the state party, this would currently lead to a paramilitary armament of the police .
Other parties
The Liberal Forum , the Austrian Pirate Party and the new NEOS party spoke out against conscription.
Result
According to the official final result, 59.7% voted for the retention of compulsory military service and community service and 40.3% for a professional army.
| Proposal / vote | proportion of | be right |
|---|---|---|
| Are you in favor of introducing a professional army and a paid voluntary social year? | 40.3% | 1,315,278 |
| Are you in favor of maintaining general conscription and community service? | 59.7% | 1,947,116 |
| Participation | proportion of | be right |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible to vote | 6,378,478 | |
| Submitted | 52.4% | 3,344,940 |
| Invalid | 2.5% | 82,546 |
| Valid | 97.5% | 3,262,394 |
With the exception of the federal capital Vienna , a majority of all federal states voted for conscription. If you go at the district level, there was only a majority vote in favor of the professional army in the Burgenland districts of Eisenstadt-Umgebung , Mattersburg and Oberpullendorf . Therefore, the result in the easternmost federal state of Austria was very close, as only 50.48% of the voters voted for conscription; 49.52% for the professional army. In contrast, in Styria, the proposal for a professional army did not achieve a majority in any municipality in the country.
In Vienna only the districts of Innere Stadt , Döbling and Hietzing voted in favor of maintaining conscription.
The place with the highest approval for the professional army was Tschanigraben in Burgenland with 76.7%. On the other hand, Schröcken in Vorarlberg was the municipality which, with 92.4% of the vote, was most in favor of conscription.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, Grabern in Lower Austria was the municipality with the highest voter turnout with 82.5%. The municipality with the lowest voter participation was the Tyrolean exclave Jungholz , where only 24.5% of those eligible to vote went to the ballot box .
45% of women voted for the professional army compared to 36% of men. 59% of men under 30 were in favor of a professional army / social year, women under 30 even 72%.
Election poll
The five most important motives that led to the respective survey results:
- Conscription and community service
- Community service should be retained - 74%
- Military / community service are an important contribution of young people - 70%
- Better for civil protection - 63%
- Is an important part of neutrality - 58%
- There is no concept for the professional army - 54%
- Professional army and voluntary social year
- Military service costs young men unnecessary time - 65%
- Contemporary - 65%
- Better for safety - 44%
- There is no concept for the further development of compulsory military service - 41%
- Better for civil protection - 36%
Opinion polls in advance
| interviewer | date | Retention of conscription | Abolition of conscription |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profile / Karmasin motivational research | January 12, 2013 | 52% | 41% |
| Austria / Gallup | January 11, 2013 | 48% (projection: 53%) | 40% (projection: 47%) |
| Today / Karmasin motivational research | January 10, 2013 | 51% | 41% |
| District newspaper / Oekonsult | January 9, 2013 | 62% | 38% |
| Upper Austria: OÖ-ÖVP / Market | January 7, 2013 | 46% | 35% |
| Salzburg: District papers Salzburg / GMK | January 2, 2013 | 62% | 31% |
| Tyrol: Tiroler Tageszeitung / Karmasin motivational research | December 30, 2012 | 51% | 32% |
| Standard / Market | December 27, 2012 | 54% | 46% |
| Austria / Gallup | December 22, 2012 | 52% | 48% |
| Kronen Zeitung / IMAS | December 20, 2012 | 55% | 31% |
| Standard / Market | December 16, 2012 | 57% | 42% |
| Profile / Karmasin | December 15, 2012 | 51% | 42% |
| ATV / Peter Hajek | December 13, 2012 | 46% | 39% |
| Carinthia: Kleine Zeitung / Peter Hajek | December 2, 2012 | 59% | 23% (6% "I will definitely not participate", 12% undecided) |
Criticism of the referendum
A Tyrolean initiative lodged a constitutional complaint against the referendum because "the question of national military defense has been mixed up with social services".
The human rights alliance BASTA of the Swedish human rights activist Lars G. Petersson had previously pointed out the questionability of such a survey and its interpretation. In a statement it says: "Almost 70% of those under 25 voted for a professional army - that means in plain language that in the next few years at least 70% of young men in Austria will have to do military service against their will".
Publications
- State of Salzburg : Information on the referendum on January 20, 2013. Professional army and paid social year or compulsory military service and community service. Series Salzburg information 146, Landes-Medienzentrum, Salzburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-85015-266-2 .
- Claus Raidl / Gerald Schöpfer (eds.): Conscription vs. Professional army . (= Politicum. Journal for Politics and Contemporary History, No. 115). Graz 2013 ISSN 1681-7273
Web links
- Federal Ministry of the Interior: final result with min max analysis
- Federal Ministry of the Interior: Information on the 2013 referendum
- Federal Youth Representation (BJV): BJV voting aid (PDF; 896 kB)
- Provincial government of Salzburg: Information for and against conscription / community service (PDF; 400 kB)
- BIÖ: commented "Summary of the arguments"
- Süddeutsche Zeitung : Commentary on the result
- SORA : Election Analysis (PDF; 286 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Conscription: Referendum on the Army in January , DiePresse.com , August 27, 2012. Retrieved on August 28, 2012.
- ^ Army survey: Government agrees on issue , DiePresse.com , September 7, 2012. Accessed September 8, 2012.
- ↑ Federal President signs government proposal - conscription referendum on January 20 is fixed , Wiener Zeitung , November 9, 2012. Accessed on November 18, 2012.
- ↑ text and date for the referendum are fixed - "Are you in favor of maintaining military and civil service?" , Wiener Zeitung , September 7, 2012. Accessed November 18, 2012th
- ↑ 2013 referendum (PDF; 13 kB), Federal Ministry of the Interior , December 27, 2012. Accessed December 30, 2012.
- ↑ Historical fickleness in the SPÖ and ÖVP: once for conscription, once against
- ↑ a b Website of the SPÖ on the referendum, section “Profiheer” ( memento of the original from January 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hundstorfer: Social year will not cost more than the current community service on ots.at from January 11, 2013, accessed on January 18, 2013.
- ↑ Conscription: Voves takes a neutral position ( memento of March 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) in the Kleine Zeitung of January 7, 2013
- ↑ Left around! Why conscription must be preserved and a professional army prevented ... , by Michi Gogola, Stamokap-Strömung Austria
- ↑ a b Conscription wins over SPÖ
- ↑ Why conscription, community service and disaster control? ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article on the ÖVP website from October 29, 2012
- ↑ ÖVP stands for a reformed armed forces ( 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. , Article on the ÖVP website from November 28, 2012
- ↑ a b Strache: Federal Chancellery and Ministry of the Interior , interview in the lunch journal of Ö1 from 7 January 2013
- ↑ a b The conscription must go , article on the pages of the Greens
- ↑ Greens want to mobilize the people for a survey of the armed forces ( 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. from January 18, 2013, accessed on January 18, 2013.
- ↑ a b Subject conscription referendum ( memento of the original from January 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 126 kB), BZÖ brochure, December 2012
- ↑ parade of turncoats , articles of Michael Fiedler on FM4 .at on 9 January 2013
- ^ The cornerstones of Stronach's basic program , article in the press of September 27, 2012
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.kpoe-steiermark.at/sand-oder-schmieroel-im-militaristische-getriebe-1.phtml
- ↑ [lif.at/index.php/download/item/download/180 Position of the LIF (PDF)]
- ↑ Pirate Party: Conscription instead of spatial planning? ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ "Neos" wants to be a hinge - kurier.at
- ↑ Official page on the results of the referendum http://vb2013.bmi.gv.at/
- ↑ No Styrian community for professional armed forces on ORF from January 21, accessed on January 22, 2013
- ↑ Austria / Largest share for suggested solution a) Are you in favor of introducing a professional army and a paid voluntary social year?
- ↑ Austria / Largest share for suggested solution b) Are you in favor of maintaining general military service and community service?
- ^ Austria / Highest voter turnout
- ↑ Austria / Lowest voter turnout
- ↑ Analysis of the public opinion poll 2013 (PDF; 82 kB). Institute for Strategy Analysis.
- ↑ Zib 2 on election day ( memento of the original from January 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on January 20, 2013
- ↑ profil.at: Survey: Majority in favor of conscription
- ↑ oe24.at: 48 percent for conscription
- ↑ Heute.at: 51% for conscription: Now poker around Vienna
- ↑ Heute.at: Coalition just misses the majority
- ↑ Upper Austria-ÖVP: mood during the vote ( memento of the original from January 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 751 kB)
- ^ District papers Salzburg: Salzburg is compulsory military service
- ↑ Tiroler Tageszeitung: Majority in favor of conscription, disappointed by Red-Black
- ↑ The Standard : Reds, Greens and Pirates tend to join the professional army
- ↑ oe24.at: Profi-Heer catches up in survey
- ↑ krone.at: Federal Army: 79% of Austrians for reforms
- ↑ Der Standard : Survey: Increasing approval of conscription
- ↑ profil.at: Survey: Countries should decide on budget
- ↑ ots.at: ATV Austria trend: majority for conscription
- ↑ Kleine Zeitung: The Carinthians vote for conscription , Kleine Zeitung of December 2, 2012
- ↑ http://www.salzburg.com/nachrichten/oesterreich/politik/sn/artikel/verfassungsbeschwerde-gegen-heer-volksbefragung-49479/
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
