Sophie Karmasin (born 5 January 1967) is an opinion researcher who was Minister for Families and Youth of Austria for four years. Karmasin was born in Vienna. Her parents were Helene and , the latter was a son of

Franz Karmasin Franz Karmasin (2 September 1901 – 25 June 1970) was an ethnic German politician in Czechoslovakia, who helped found the Carpathian German Party. During World War II he was state secretary of German affairs in the Slovak Republic, and rose to the ...

; is her brother. She studied business administration and later psychology at the University of Salzburg. She led the family-owned , a market research company founded by her parents, until entering politics. Karmasin is married with two children. She was appointed to the

second Faymann government The Second Faymann government was a government of Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann. It took office on 16 December 2013 following the 2013 legislative election, succeeding the First Faymann government. On 17 May 2016, it was succeeded by the K ...

in December 2013. She was nominated for the office by the

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is currentl ...

(ÖVP), but does not have a party membership. She worked on increasing family benefits and improving day care capacity but was criticised for her lack of experience in politics. Karmasin left politics after the

2017 Austrian legislative election Legislative elections were held in Austria on 15 October 2017 to elect the 26th National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament. The snap election was called when the coalition government between the Social Democratic Party o ...

. In 2018 she founded a consulting firm. Since 2019 she presents an opinion poll segment on television channel . In 2021, Karmasin was one of ten people accused of bribery and embezzlement in the

Kurz corruption probe On 6 October 2021, Austrian anti-corruption prosecutors conducted a raid on the offices of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the headquarters of the Austrian People's Party, and the Federal Ministry of Finance. Kurz, along with nine high-profi ...

. Investigators allege that she acted as an intermediary between the ÖVP and the founders of

Österreich 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 ci ...

, a newspaper that published manipulated opinion polls. , a former assistant of Karmasin, was arrested on 12 October. Karmasin herself was arrested on 3 March due to critical risk of committing a crime and collusion.

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* 1967 births Living people Politicians from Vienna University of Salzburg alumni Government ministers of Austria Women government ministers of Austria 21st-century Austrian politicians 21st-century Austrian women politicians {{austria-politician-stub