Composition
The 62 members of the Federal Council (Bundesräte) are elected according to proportional representation by each of the Austrian states' legislatures (Landtage) for 4- to 6-year terms. The composition of the Bundesrat therefore changes after every state election and the distribution of seats in the Austrian Landtage. The second largest faction of the particular Landtag has the right to designate at least one deputy. The number of representatives delegated by each Bundesland ranges between three and twelve, depending on its population as ascertained by a regular census; it is fixed per presidential decree.
Though the Federal Council has no strong party discipline, the deputies may ally along party lines and form political groups, which have to meet a quorum of five seats, if not admitted by particular resolution (as in case of the FPÖ). There are currently three groups in the Bundesrat:
| MPs | ÖVP | SPÖ | FPÖ | Non-Inscrits | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burgenland | 3 | 1 | 2 | – | – | |
| Carinthia | 4 | 1 | 1 | – | 2 | (FPK) |
| Lower Austria | 12 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | (Greens) |
| Salzburg | 4 | 2 | 2 | – | – | |
| Styria | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | – | |
| Tyrol | 5 | 3 | 1 | – | 1 | (FRITZ) |
| Upper Austria | 11 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | (Greens) |
| Vienna | 11 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 1 | (Greens) |
| Vorarlberg | 3 | 2 | – | 1 | – | |
| Overall | 62 | 27 | 22 | 7 | 6 |
The President of the Federal Council is nominated by the largest party of each state in half-yearly intervals.
Read more about this topic: Federal Council (Austria)
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“I live in the angle of a leaden wall, into whose composition was poured a little alloy of bell-metal. Often, in the repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confused tintinnabulum from without. It is the noise of my contemporaries.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Give a scientist a problem and he will probably provide a solution; historians and sociologists, by contrast, can offer only opinions. Ask a dozen chemists the composition of an organic compound such as methane, and within a short time all twelve will have come up with the same solution of CH4. Ask, however, a dozen economists or sociologists to provide policies to reduce unemployment or the level of crime and twelve widely differing opinions are likely to be offered.”
—Derek Gjertsen, British scientist, author. Science and Philosophy: Past and Present, ch. 3, Penguin (1989)
“There is singularly nothing that makes a difference a difference in beginning and in the middle and in ending except that each generation has something different at which they are all looking. By this I mean so simply that anybody knows it that composition is the difference which makes each and all of them then different from other generations and this is what makes everything different otherwise they are all alike and everybody knows it because everybody says it.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)