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The Austrian People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei or ÖVP) is an Austrian political party. The People's Party advocates conservative financial policies and privatization of much of Austria's nationalized industry and finds support in all parts of the population. Strong support groups are farmers, large and small business owners, federal officials and lay Catholic groups. Public opinion polls show that higher educated people, younger people and people from the rural regions of Austria tend more to vote for the ÖVP.
In 2000, the People's Party formed a coalition government with the right-wing populist Jörg Haider's Austrian Freedom Party. This caused widespread outrage in Europe, and 14 European states initiated diplomatic sanctions against Austria. A few months later the sanctions were dropped, according to an report of EU prime ministers (the "three wise men").
In November 2002, general elections resulted in a landslide victory (42.27% of the vote) for the People's Party under the leadership of Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. Haider's Freedom Party, which in 1999 was stronger than Schüssel's party, was reduced to 10.16% of the vote.
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Austrian political parties
Conservative parties
