The Christian Party of Austria are a minor political party in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, 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 officially registered on 23 January 2006 and officially presented to the public on 27 September 2007, when it announced a Volksbegehren on the topic of children and families and also announced it would contest the 2008 election

Lower Austrian state election, 2008

State elections were held in the Austrian state of Lower Austria on 9 March 2008. They were contested by the Austrian People's Party, the Social Democratic Party of Austria, The Greens – The Green Alternative and the Freedom Party of Austria, all of whom are in the current Landtag, and a number of...

 in Lower Austria

Lower Austria

Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...

.

In the 2008 parliamentary election

Austrian legislative election, 2008

A legislative snap election for the National Council in Austria was held on 28 September 2008. The previous election was held on 1 October 2006. The election was caused by the withdrawal of Austrian People's Party leader Wilhelm Molterer from the governing grand coalition on 7 July 2008...

, the party received 0.64% of the vote.

Rudolf Gehring, the party's chairman, is running for president in the 2010 election

Austrian presidential election, 2010

The Austrian presidential election took place on 25 April 2010. It was the twelfth election of an Austrian head of state since 1951. The candidates were Heinz Fischer, Barbara Rosenkranz and Rudolf Gehring . Heinz Fischer won with just under 80% of the valid votes...

. In the absence of an Austrian People's Party

Austrian People's Party

The Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...

 candidate, Gehring received 5.44% of the vote for a distant third place, which nonetheless represents the party's highest vote in a national election to date.

Program

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
• More religiosity in schools
• Outlawing (or keeping illegal) of abortion
  Abortion
  Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
  
  , euthanasia
  Euthanasia
  Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
  
  , stem cell research and artificial insemination
  Artificial insemination
  Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
  
  
• Protection of the belief in a Creator God, stating that the importance of this belief "demands respect from other creeds and atheists", as well