President of Austria

The Austrian Federal President (German: Österreichischer Bundespräsident) is the federal head of state of Austria. Though theoretically entrusted with great power by the constitution, in practice the President acts, for the most part, merely as a ceremonial figurehead. The President of Austria is directly elected by universal adult suffrage once in every six years. His or her offices are located in the Leopoldine Wing of the Hofburg Imperial Palace, in Vienna.

History

Prior to the collapse of the multinational Austro-Hungarian empire towards the end of World War I, what now is the Republic of Austria had been part of a monarchy with an emperor as its head of state and chief executive. The empire noticeably began to fracture in late 1917 and manifestly disintegrated into a number of independent nation states over the course of the following year. Effective October 21, 1918, the Imperial Council parliamentarians representing the empire's ethnically German provinces formed a Provisional National Assembly for their paralyzed rump state and appointed veteran party leader Karl Seitz as one of their three largely coequal chairmen (October 21, 1918 - February 16, 1919). As chairman, he also became a member (ex officio) of the Austrian State Council (Deutschösterreichischer Staatsrat). On November 12, 1918, the State Council collectively assumed the functions of head of state according to a resolution of the National Assembly. Following the formal refusal of Emperor Karl I to exercise highest state authority (it was not an abdication: "Ich verzichte auf jeden Anteil an den Staatsgeschäften. Gleichzeitig enthebe Ich Meine österreichische Regierung ihres Amtes.") on November 11, parliament proclaimed the Republic of German Austria on November 12. The assembly presidents (Seitz, Franz Dinghofer and Johann Nepomuk Hauser) continued to serve as acting heads of state until March 4, 1919, when the National Constituent Assembly collectively assumed these functions. Anton David (March 4, 1919 - March 5, 1919) and Seitz (March 5, 1919 - November 10, 1920) were the presidents of the National Constituent Assembly.

Related Topics:
Austro-Hungarian - Empire - World War I - Monarchy - Emperor - 1917 - Nation state - October 21 - 1918 - Karl Seitz - Emperor - Karl I - November 11 - Republic of German Austria - November 12 - Franz Dinghofer - Johann Nepomuk Hauser

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Karl Seitz performed the duties of head of state according to a law of October 1, 1920, which transferred these duties to the "former president of the National Constituent Assembly" for the period from November 10, 1920, to the day of swearing-in of the first Federal President (December 9, 1920). Since Austria had not finalized its decision to structure itself as a federation prior to the formal implementation of the definitive Constitution of Austria on October 1, 1920, referring to Seitz as Federal President would have been inaccurate. Austria's first Bundespräsident proper thus was Michael Hainisch, Karl Seitz' immediate successor. In a related note, many popular sources quote some more or less random date between October 1918 and March 1919 as the beginning of Seitz' tenure. While most of them are merely misleading, others are plainly wrong: even though Seitz was appointed President of the Provisional National Assembly in October 1918, it would have been impossible for him to be President of Austria as of that month, the republic not even having been proclaimed by then.

Related Topics:
Federation - Constitution of Austria - October 1 - 1920

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The constitution originally defined Austria to be a prototypical parliamentary republic assigning executive as well as legislative almost entirely to the parliament. The cabinet was appointed by the National Council rather than the president, who in turn was elected by the Federal Assembly rather than the people. The president's term of office was four rather than six years. The president was answerable to the Federal Assembly and, in particular, had no authority to dissolve the National Council. Not even having much actual influence on the appointment of Constitutional Court justices, the President of Austria all in all had to be content with almost exclusively ceremonial duties. It was under this constitutional framework that Michael Hainisch and Wilhelm Miklas assumed office on December 9, 1920 and December 10, 1928, respectively.

Related Topics:
Parliamentary - National Council - Federal Assembly - Michael Hainisch - Wilhelm Miklas - December 9 - 1920 - December 10 - 1928

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The parliamentary system prescribed by the constitution was highly unpopular, however, with the authoritarianist Heimwehr movement evolving during the 1920s. The Heimwehr was in favor of a system granting more powers to the head of state and eventually daunted the political establishment into enacting an amendment which did precisely that. From December 7, 1929 on, the constitution arranged for the office of the President of Austria to wield the sweeping executive and legislative authority it formally still has. It also called for the office to be filled by popular vote for a term of six years. Before any popular election actually took place, however, a coalition of Heimwehr movement and Christian Social Party tore down Austrian parliamentarism altogether, formally annulling the constitution on May 1, 1934. Though Austria now was a dictatorship in all but name, power was concentrated in the hands of the chancellor, not those of the president. Wilhelm Miklas was back to effectively being powerless but agreed to act as a fig leaf of institutional continuity anyway. He technically remained in office until March 13, 1938, the day Austria joined Nazi Germany and thus gave up sovereignty.

Related Topics:
Authoritarianist - Heimwehr - 1920s - December 7 - 1929 - Christian Social Party - May 1 - 1934 - Dictatorship - March 13 - 1938 - Nazi Germany

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When Austria re-established itself as an independent nation on April 27, 1945, the party leaders forming the provisional government decided not to frame new basic law but fall back to the 1929 version of the 1920 constitution. Even though the revision enacted in 1929 was still highly controversial, it was part of Austria's most recent constitutional framework with at least some form of democratic legitimacy, and the party chairs were afraid lengthy discussion might provoke the Red Army then in control of Vienna to barge in. The constitution thus reenacted effective May 1 therefore still included the provision calling for a president elected by popular vote. Following the November 1945 National Council elections, however, the National Assembly temporarily suspended this provision and installed Karl Renner as the President of Austria as of December 20. The suspension in question seems to have been motivated mainly by lack of cash: no attempt was ever made to prolong it, and the benign septuagenarian Renner had been the universally respected provisional head of state anyway. Starting with Renner's successor Theodor Körner, Presidents of Austria have in fact been elected by the people.

Related Topics:
April 27 - 1945 - Red Army - Vienna - May 1 - Karl Renner - December 20 - Theodor Körner

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