Austrian People's Party

(ÖVP, Österreichische Volkspartei). Expresses the interests of large industrialists and landowners and is closely connected with the Catholic Church. Founded in April 1945 on the basis of the former Christian Social Party, it has more than 700,000 members (1969).

The ÖVP includes three organizations: the Economic Federation, made up mainly of entrepreneurs, the Federation of Workers and Employees, and the Federation of Farmers. The party defends the freedom of private property and the strengthening of the position of capital in the country. For over 20 years, the ÖVP formed a coalition government with the Austrian Socialist Party. After receiving a majority of seats (85 out of 165) in the parliamentary elections of March 1966, the ÖVP formed a single-party government in April 1966. Its press organs are the newspaper Volksblatte and the magazine Österreichische Monatschäfte.