Recent Events
The Social Democratic Party under Alfred Gusenbauer emerged as the winner of Austria's general election in October 2006. After negotiations with the ÖVP were successfully concluded Alfred Gusenbauer and his SPÖ-ÖVP coalition government were sworn in on January 11, 2007 by President Heinz Fischer.
This coalition broke-up again in June 2008. Elections in September 2008 further weakened both major parties, Social Democrats and People's Party, but together they still hold more than 50% of the votes with the Social Democrats holding the majority. The Freedom Party and the recently deceased Jörg Haider's new party Alliance for the Future of Austria, both right-wing parties, were strengthened. Due to the surge of the right at the last elections, many speculated that any government coalition would include at least one of the two far-right parties. This idea was put to rest when both the Social Democrats and the People's Party stated that neither of them would work with the Freedom Party or the Alliance for the Future of Austria. Lengthy negotiations led to a renewed "grand coalition" consisting of the Social Democrats and the People's Party.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Austria
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