Vorarlberg State Parliament
| logo | Country house in Bregenz |
|---|---|
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| Basic data | |
| Seat: | Country house in Bregenz |
| Legislative period : | five years |
| First session: | 1920 |
| MPs: | 36 |
| Current legislative period | |
| Last choice: | October 13, 2019 |
| Next choice: | probably 2024 |
| Chair: | State Parliament President Harald Sonderegger (ÖVP) |
| Distribution of seats: |
Government factions (24)
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| Website | |
| www.vorarlberg.at/landtag | |
The Vorarlberg Landtag is the parliament of the state of Vorarlberg . He alone is appointed to legislate for the independent sphere of activity of the state, since the unicameral system is implemented in Austria at the state level. Like its counterparts in Salzburg , Carinthia , Tyrol and Burgenland , it has 36 members. The seat of the state parliament is the country house in Bregenz , which also houses the state government and the office of the Vorarlberg state government.
choice
The state parliament is elected by the state people on the basis of the general, equal and secret proportional representation. All Austrian citizens who have reached the age of 16 on the reference date and have their place of residence in Vorarlberg are entitled to vote. Parties can move into the state parliament if they either obtain a basic mandate in one of the four constituencies or if they achieve a result of at least five percent; In addition, proportional representation applies . The legislative period is five years. Article 16 (2) of the state constitution provides: “The state parliament period begins on the day on which the newly elected state parliament meets for its first session. It ends with the beginning of the next parliamentary term. ”If a new parliament is elected, it is convened by the senior member of the parliamentary presidency of the last legislative period, who is also represented in the newly elected parliament. If the newly elected state parliament does not belong to the presidium member of the old state parliament, he must be convened by the oldest, newly elected member. This chair also presides over the election of a presidium. After the election of the Presidium, the MPs have to pledge the following formula to the newly elected President:
- "I vow to observe the constitution carefully and to conscientiously fulfill the duties of a member of parliament."
composition
The mandates of the Vorarlberger Landtag were distributed among the parliamentary groups represented as follows in its last five legislative periods:
| Distribution of seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political party | 2019 | 2014 | 2009 | 2004 | 1999 |
| ÖVP | 17th | 16 | 20th | 21st | 18th |
| SPÖ | 4th | 3 | 3 | 6th | 5 |
| FPÖ | 5 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 11 |
| Green | 7th | 6th | 4th | 4th | 2 |
| NEOS | 3 | 2 | nk | nk | nk |
organization
The state parliament gives itself its own rules of procedure by resolution; the current version dates from 2007. Further provisions relating to it can be found in the Vorarlberg state constitution and in the federal constitutional law .
Landtag Presidium
The state parliament elects a president and two deputies (vice-presidents) from among its members. Together they form the Presidency of the State Parliament. Usually the seat of the president is assigned to the strongest party in the state parliament. The President of the Landtag chairs the Landtag, he also represents the Landtag externally, has to ensure that the meeting room is quiet and has the authority over the employees of the Landtag directorate. If he is unable to attend, he is represented by the vice-presidents. If one of the offices in the Presidium expires, the Landtag has to hold a replacement election. Members of the state government may not belong to the state parliament presidium. The current president of the state parliament is Harald Sonderegger (ÖVP), the first vice-president is Monika Vonier (ÖVP), the second vice-president is Sandra Schoch (GREEN).
Clubs
The groups and parties represented in the state parliament usually form clubs, with state parliament groups with at least three members having the right to form a state parliament club.
- “Each state parliament club has to elect a chairman and a deputy chairman from among its members. The result of the constitution must be reported to the President in writing or in any technically possible form. Members of parliament who do not belong to a state parliament club can join one as permanent guests. These guests count in the calculation of the strength of the state parliament club. ”The granting of certain financial and material subsidies also depends on the strength of the club. Club chairman of the SPÖ club is Martin Staudinger , club chairman of the FPÖ Christof Bitschi , club chairman of the Greens Daniel Zadra , club chairwoman of NEOS is Sabine Scheffknecht and Roland Frühstück is the current ÖVP club chairman .
Committees
The Vorarlberg state parliament can set up committees to pretreat certain items to be discussed. These are made up of members of parliament from the parties; if necessary, they can also be forced to participate in the committees. After a vote, the committee can appoint a rapporteur from among its members who has to present and represent the majority decision in the state parliament. There are currently 14 committees affiliated with the Vorarlberg state parliament.
State Parliament Directorate
The office of the state parliament is the state parliament directorate with the state parliament director at its head. The management is responsible for the administration of the affairs of the state parliament. This includes the preparation of the state parliament sessions, the creation of minutes and the clarification of legal issues. The Landtag director is bound by the instructions of the Landtag President. Borghild Goldgruber-Reiner is currently director of the Vorarlberg state parliament.
Decision making
In principle, resolutions are passed in the state parliament with the approval of an absolute majority of members, i.e. with 50% and one vote. Various minority rights are excluded from this, such as referring to the audit of the accounting of the country, one of its authorities or a company in which the country is the majority owner. These require less than half of the votes. More than an absolute majority of the votes of the MPs is necessary for the adoption of state constitutional laws, which can only be passed with a qualified majority of two thirds of the votes.
Although the ÖVP held an absolute majority in the state parliament from 1945 to 2014, with the exception of the legislative period of the state parliament between 1999 and 2004 , it always ruled in a coalition government with one of the smaller parties until 2009. Until 1974 this was the SPÖ , but the FPÖ in the following decades . From 2009 to 2014 the ÖVP ruled alone. Since 2014 Vorarlberg has been ruled by a black-green coalition made up of the Vorarlberg People's Party and the Vorarlberg Greens .
Competencies
According to the Vorarlberg state constitution , the state parliament is responsible for the election of the state governor , the state governor (deputy governor) and the other state councilors in addition to the state legislation . The state government is responsible to the state parliament. At the beginning of his legislative term he elects and sends out the three federal councilors to which Vorarlberg is entitled after the Federal President 's allocation based on the last census in 2001 . After the last state election in 2019, these are Christine Schwarz-Fuchs (ÖVP), Heike Eder (ÖVP) and Adi Gross (GREEN). In addition, the state parliament elects the director of the state audit office and the state public prosecutor for a term of office of six years each. Both are organs of the state parliament, are responsible to it and are accountable to it. At the request of the state parliament, a quarter of its members or the state government, the state audit office examines the financial management of the state or a company in which the state has a majority stake.
resolution
Before the end of the legislative period, the state parliament can resolve on its dissolution by a majority or be dissolved by the Federal President on the proposal of the Federal Government and with the consent of the Federal Council, whereby the Vorarlberg Federal Councilors would be excluded from the vote in such a case. If the state parliament is dissolved, the state government has to call new elections within three weeks.
See also
- Distribution of seats in the Austrian state parliaments
- Results of all state elections in Austria
- Members of the Austrian Federal Council from Vorarlberg
literature
- Peter Bußjäger : State Parliament and State Government. In: Peter Bußjäger, Ferdinand Karlhofer, Günther Pallaver (eds.): Vorarlberg's political landscape. A manual. Studienverlag, Innsbruck et al. 2010 ISBN 978-3-7065-4649-2 .
Web links
- Website of the Vorarlberg Parliament
- State Parliament Rules of Procedure (PDF file; 160 kB)
- Wiener Zeitung : Vorarlberg State Election 2009 ( Memento from March 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- Search and leaf through the minutes of the state parliament from 1964 and the list of members of parliament
Individual evidence
- ↑ Vorarlberg election: Small parties are used to failure. Vorarlberg Online , accessed on September 19, 2009 .
- ↑ Sample calculations for the state election. ORF , accessed on September 19, 2009 .
- ↑ State election: Eight parties run in Vorarlberg. The press , accessed September 19, 2009 .
- ↑ § 4 Paragraph 2 Rules of Procedure of the Vorarlberg State Parliament, Article 20 Paragraph 1 Vorarlberg State Constitution
- ↑ http://www.vorarlberg.at/landtag/landtag/archiv/uebersicht2007/juni2007/06_06_2007landtagssitzung.htm Landtag resolves new rules of procedure
- ↑ § 6 Rules of Procedure of the Vorarlberger Landtag
- ↑ http://www.vorarlberg.at/landtag/landtag/landtagsdirektion/weiterinformationen/haben_dienstleistungen/landtagsdirektion_angebote_dienstleistungen.htm Land Vorarlberg, Vorarlberger Landtag, Landtag Directorate
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