Austrian People's Party

Austrian People's Party Österreichische Volkspartei
Abbreviation	ÖVP
Chairperson	Christian Stocker (acting)
Secretary General	Alexander Pröll
Parliamentary leader	August Wöginger
Leader in the EP	Reinhold Lopatka
Founded	17 April 1945; 79 years ago (1945-04-17)
Headquarters	Lichtenfelsgasse 7, 1010 First District, Vienna
Youth wing	Young People's Party
Party academy	ÖVP Political Academy
Membership (2017)	c. 600,000[1][needs update]
Ideology	Christian democracy Liberal conservatism Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-right to right-wing
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament group	European People's Party Group
International affiliation	International Democracy Union
Colours	Turquoise[a]   Black[b]
National Council	51 / 183
Federal Council	26 / 61
Governorships	5 / 9
Landtag Seats	146 / 440
European Parliament	5 / 20
Party flag
Website
dievolkspartei.at
Politics of Austria Political parties Elections

The Austrian People's Party (German: Österreichische Volkspartei [ˈøːstɐraɪçɪʃɛ ˌfɔlksparˈtaɪ], ÖVP [ˌøːfaʊˈpeː]) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria.

Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest party in the National Council, with 51 of the 183 seats, and won 26.3% of votes cast in the 2024 legislative election. It holds seats in all nine state legislatures, and is part of government in seven, of which it leads six. The ÖVP is a member of the International Democracy Union and the European People's Party. It sits with the EPP group in the European Parliament; of Austria's 19 MEPs, 5 are members of the ÖVP. It is the second largest party in Europe by membership.

An unofficial successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ÖVP was founded immediately following the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria in 1945. Since then, it has been one of the two traditional major parties in Austria, alongside the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). It was the most popular party until 1970, and has traditionally governed in a grand coalition with the SPÖ. It was the senior partner in grand coalitions from 1945 to 1966 and the junior partner from 1986 to 2000 and 2007–2017. The ÖVP also briefly governed alone from 1966 to 1970. After the 1999 election, the party formed a coalition with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) until 2003, when a coalition with the FPÖ splinter Alliance for the Future of Austria was formed, which lasted until 2007.

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