Austrian People's Party

The Austrian People's Party (German: Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, it has been led by Christian Stocker as an acting leader. The party is currently the second-largest in the National Council, holding 51 of the 183 seats, and won 26.3% of votes in the 2024 legislative election.

The ÖVP is part of the government in seven of Austria's nine state legislatures and leads six of them. It belongs to the International Democracy Union and the European People's Party, and five of Austria's 19 MEPs in the European Parliament are members of the ÖVP.

Founded in 1945 after the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria, the ÖVP is an unofficial successor to the Christian Social Party and the Fatherland Front. It has long been one of Austria's two major parties, alongside the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). For many years, it was the most popular party and often governed in a grand coalition with the SPÖ.

History

The Austrian People's Party, or ÖVP, started from the Christian Social Party, which was formed in 1893. After World War II, the ÖVP became one of Austria's main political groups and has often been part of the government.

The ÖVP won big in Austria's first election after World War II and shared power with other parties. Over the years, it has worked with many different groups to lead the country. In recent times, the party has changed its look and name a few times. After some problems, including an issue known as the Ibiza affair, the party's leader changed a few times. In the 2024 election, the ÖVP became the second-largest party and is now led by Christian Stocker as acting leader.

Ideology and platform

The Austrian People's Party is a Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative group. It has often called itself a Catholic party and supports ideas like helping people help themselves and giving power to smaller groups instead of big ones.

After World War II, the party called itself the Austrian Party and worked with other parties to lead the country. In 2017, under leader Sebastian Kurz, the party changed its look and made new promises, including stronger rules about who can enter the country and keeping certain beliefs out of politics.

Organization

The Austrian People's Party has used several logos over the years. In the 1980s, one logo was used, and then a different logo was used before 2017. From 2017 to 2022, another logo was used, along with a special turquoise version. Since 2022, the party has a new logo.

Here is a chart showing the leaders of the party and the Chancellors of Austria since 1945. The chart shows when each leader served and which party was in charge of the government at that time.

Election results

National Council

President

European Parliament

State Parliaments

Results Timeline

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
1945	Leopold Figl	1,602,227	49.80 (#1)	85 / 165	New	ÖVP–SPÖ–KPÖ majority
1949		1,846,581	44.03 (#1)	77 / 165	8	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1953		1,781,777	41.26 (#2)	74 / 165	3	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1956	Julius Raab	1,999,986	45.96 (#1)	82 / 165	8	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1959		1,928,043	44.19 (#2)	79 / 165	3	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1962	Alfons Gorbach	2,024,501	45.43 (#1)	81 / 165	2	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1966	Josef Klaus	2,191,109	48.35 (#1)	85 / 165	4	ÖVP majority
1970		2,051,012	44.69 (#2)	78 / 165	7	Opposition
1971	Hermann Withalm	1,964,713	43.11 (#2)	80 / 183	2	Opposition
1975	Josef Taus	1,981,291	42.95 (#2)	80 / 183	0	Opposition
1979		1,981,739	41.90 (#2)	77 / 183	3	Opposition
1983	Alois Mock	2,097,808	43.22 (#2)	81 / 183	4	Opposition
1986		2,003,663	41.29 (#2)	77 / 183	4	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1990	Josef Riegler	1,508,600	32.06 (#2)	60 / 183	17	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1994	Erhard Busek	1,281,846	27.67 (#2)	52 / 183	8	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1995	Wolfgang Schüssel	1,370,510	28.29 (#2)	52 / 183	0	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1999		1,243,672	26.91 (#3)	52 / 183	0	ÖVP–FPÖ majority
2002		2,076,833	42.30 (#1)	79 / 183	27	ÖVP–FPÖ majority
2006		1,616,493	34.33 (#2)	66 / 183	13	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
2008	Wilhelm Molterer	1,269,656	25.98 (#2)	51 / 183	15	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
2013	Michael Spindelegger	1,125,876	23.99 (#2)	47 / 183	4	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
2017	Sebastian Kurz	1,341,930	31.47 (#1)	62 / 183	15	ÖVP–FPÖ majority
2019		1,789,417	37.46 (#1)	71 / 183	9	ÖVP–GRÜNE majority
2024	Karl Nehammer	1,246,676	26.27 (#2)	52 / 183	19	ÖVP–SPÖ–NEOS majority

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
1996	Ursula Stenzel	1,124,921	29.65 (#1)	7 / 21	New	EPP
1999		859,175	30.67 (#2)	7 / 21	0
2004		817,716	32.70 (#2)	6 / 18	1	EPP-ED
2009	Ernst Strasser	858,921	29.98 (#1)	6 / 17	0	EPP
2014	Othmar Karas	761,896	26.98 (#1)	5 / 18	1
2019		1,305,954	34.55 (#1)	7 / 18	2
2024	Reinhold Lopatka	864,072	24.52 (#2)	5 / 20	2

State	Leader	Year	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
Burgenland	Christian Sagartz	2025	42,923	22.0 (#3)	8 / 36	3	Opposition
Carinthia	Martin Gruber	2023	51,637	17.0 (#3)	7 / 36	1	SPÖ–ÖVP
Lower Austria	Johanna Mikl-Leitner	2023	359,194	39.9 (#1)	23 / 56	6	ÖVP–FPÖ
Salzburg	Wilfried Haslauer	2023	81,752	30.4 (#1)	12 / 36	3	ÖVP–FPÖ
Styria	Manuela Khom	2024	177,580	26.8 (#2)	13 / 48	5	FPÖ–ÖVP
Tyrol	Anton Mattle	2022	119,167	34.7 (#1)	14 / 36	3	ÖVP–SPÖ
Upper Austria	Thomas Stelzer	2021	303,835	37.6 (#1)	22 / 56	1	ÖVP–FPÖ
Vienna	Markus Figl	2025	63,050	9.71 (#5)	22 / 100		Opposition
Vorarlberg	Markus Wallner	2024	70,638	38.3 (#1)	15 / 36	2	ÖVP–FPÖ