National Council of Austria
|
National Council Nationalrat |
|
|---|---|
| 24th Legislative Period | |
 |
|
| Type | |
| Type |
Lower house of the Austrian Parliament
|
| Leadership | |
|
President
|
|
|
Second President
|
|
|
Third President
|
|
| Structure | |
| Seats | 183 |
 |
|
|
Nationalrat political groups
|
Government (102): SPÖ (52) ÖVP (50) Opposition (81): FPÖ (38) Grüne (24) Team Stronach (6) NEOS (9) Independent (4) |
| Elections | |
|
Nationalrat voting system
|
Proportional representation |
|
Nationalrat last election
|
29 September 2013 |
|
Nationalrat next election
|
2018 or earlier |
| Meeting place | |
 |
|
|
Parliament Innere Stadt, Vienna Republic of Austria |
|
| Website | |
| parlament.gv.at | |
The National Council (Nationalrat) is one of the two houses of the Austrian Parliament and is frequently referred to as the lower house. The constitution endows the National Council far more power than the Federal Council.
The National Council is where Austria's federal legislative authority is concentrated; for a bill to become federal law, it must be resolved upon by this chamber. Bills passed by the National Council are sent to the Federal Council for corroboration. If the Federal Council approves of the bill or simply does nothing for eight weeks, the bill has succeeded. If the Federal Council vetoes the bill, the National Council may still force it into law by essentially just passing it again; a National Council resolution overruling a Federal Council objection merely has to meet a higher quorum than a regular resolution. In other words, the Federal Council does not have any real power to prevent adoption of legislation, the National Council being trivially able to override it. There are three exceptions to this rule:
The approval of the National Council is also required for most of the prerogatives of the Federal Assembly to be exercised. For example, motions to call for a referendum aimed at having the President removed from office by the electorate, and motions to declare war all need a two-thirds majority in the National Council. Only motions to impeach the President can also be from the Federal Council.
The 183 members of the National Council are elected by nationwide popular vote for a term of five years; each Austrian sixteen years or older on the day the election takes place is entitled to one vote. National Council elections are general elections. The voting system aims at party-list proportional representation, uses partially open lists, and is relatively straightforward:
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Wikipedia