Karin Gastinger (born 11 March 1964) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n politician. She was Federal Minister of Justice in the coalition government led by

Wolfgang Schüssel Wolfgang Schüssel (; born 7 June 1945) is an Austrian People's Party politician. He was Chancellor of Austria for two consecutive terms from February 2000 to January 2007. While being recognised as a rare example of an active reformer in conte ...

which served from June 2004 to January 2007. She was born Karin Miklautsch in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

, and, after graduating from law school, became a lawyer with the

Carinthian Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carint ...

government, where she was appointed head of the Department of

Water Law Water resources law (in some jurisdictions, shortened to "water law") is the field of law dealing with the ownership, control, and use of water as a resource. It is most closely related to property law, and is distinct from Water quality law, l ...

in 1999. In the autumn of 2004, still unknown to most Austrians, Gastinger was nominated by

Jörg Haider Jörg Haider (; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008) was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of ...

, the governor of Carinthia, and his

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Aust ...

(FPÖ), as successor to , the Minister of Justice who had just stepped down. Gastinger had never been a member of the Freedom Party, and she remained ''parteifrei'' on being sworn in as Federal Minister of Justice. During her term of office, Gastinger gained quite a lot of recognition as a competent politician despite her initial inexperience. When, in April 2005, Haider split from the FPÖ and formed the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), Gastinger eventually became a member of the newly formed party. During the

election campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...

leading up to the

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

to be held on 1 October 2006, she was ''Spitzenkandidatin'' (top of the list) of Styria for the BZÖ. However, on 25 September, only six days before the election, she announced her defection from the BZÖ.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gastinger 1964 births Living people Austrian women in politics Female justice ministers Justice ministers of Austria