The Christian Party of Austria (german: Christliche Partei Österreichs, CPÖ; formerly the Christians – german: Die Christen) is a minor

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

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 ...

, founded on 15 October 2005. It changed its name under its new chairman Rudolf Gehring in late 2009, partially due to concerns by the Catholic Church over the use of the term "Christians" to mean only the party.

History

The party was registered on 23 January 2006, and presented to the public on 27 September 2007, when it announced a popular initiative ("Volksbegehren") on the topic of children and families and that it would contest the 2008 election in

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

. In the 2008 parliamentary election, the party received 0.64% of the vote. Rudolf Gehring, the party's chairman, announced he would run for president in the 2010 election. He received 5.44% of the vote for third place, the party's highest vote percentage in a national election to date.

Goals

The party is oriented mainly on Christian politics, advocating, for example: * Revoking the recognition of same-sex unions * Giving parents the right to vote for their children * Maintaining Christian symbols in schools * Outlawing (or maintaining the illegality of)

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

, euthanasia, stem cell research and

artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...

* Protection of the belief in a Creator God, stating that the importance of this belief "demands respect from other creeds and atheists" as well * A rejection of further EU centralization * A rejection of illegal immigration

Election results

National Council

President

References

External links

Official homepage
Christian political parties Catholic political parties Political parties established in 2005 Conservative parties in Austria 2005 establishments in Austria {{austria-party-stub