Upper Austria Unofficial

The consolidation of power – sorry, democracy

Control rights for minorities in the state parliament? In Upper Austria, unlike in other federal states, they are virtually non-existent.(Bild: Dostal Harald)

At a symposium in Linz, the ÖVP invoked the importance of democracy with stately words. However, this was not followed by corresponding action in the Landhaus. Instead of expanding control rights and transparency, the ÖVP, as the leading party in the country, is more focused on securing its own sinecure.

The consolidation and further development of democracy is a daily effort," said state governor and ÖVP leader Thomas Stelzer recently at the state parliament's first democracy symposium - which could also have been the last. Stelzer's own party is somewhat lax when it comes to the "daily effort" in matters of democracy. The others recently had to take note of this in the constitutional committee.

Control or "political tribunal"?
There, in the wind of Stelzer's commitment to democracy, they actually wanted to consolidate and further develop it: away with the proportional representation system, which is reduced to absurdity with coalition agreements; towards more control rights such as the convening of committees of inquiry by minorities; towards the disclosure of minutes of the provincial governors' conference. All of this was proposed - and shot down by the ÖVP with the help of its well-behaved coalition partner, the FPÖ. For ÖVP party leader Christian Dörfel, deeply democratic means such as commissions of inquiry are a "political tribunal" and would turn the provincial parliament into a "show stage".

The ÖVP - here symbolically Stelzer and Deputy Governor Christine Haberlander - does not like to be looked over the shoulder.(Bild: Dostal Harald)

37 percent share of the vote, 55 percent members of government
The choice between consolidating democracy and consolidating its own power was therefore not difficult for the ÖVP - it plays in the Champions League in this discipline. After the 2021 election, for example, it secured an absolute majority in the provincial government with 37.6% of the vote by not including the governor on its own party list - in accordance with the constitution - and thus snatching five of the nine government seats.

Blue transformation
Fun fact: In 2014, the FPÖ had itself proposed exactly the above-mentioned points in parliament that it has now rejected in the Constitutional Committee. The party leader was the same, Manfred Haimbuchner. The only difference: back then, the FPÖ was a minority and not, as now, a majority procurer for the ÖVP.