Additionally, the president is empowered to remove the chancellor and the Cabinet, dissolve the National Council and the State Legislatures, rule by decree and oversee the Armed Forces but these powers have never or rarely been used.

Prior to the collapse of the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire towards the end of World War I, what now is the Republic of Austria had been part of a monarchy with an emperor as its head of state and chief executive.

[1] As the emperor had grown practically powerless, the members of the lower chamber of the Imperial Council – representing Cisleithania, including the empire's ethnically German provinces – formed a Provisional National Assembly for their paralyzed country on 21 October 1918.

Additionally, the National Assembly appointed three coequal chairmen, one of them being Karl Seitz, and established a State Council to administer the executive branch.

On 11 November, Emperor Charles I dissolved the Imperial Cabinet and officially renounced any participation in government affairs but did not abdicate, seeing this move only as a temporary break from his rule.

However, the Social Democratic Worker's Party, fearing that such a president would become a "substitute emperor", favored reverting to a parliamentary presidium acting as collective head of state.

[citation needed] This led to surging support for the authoritarian and paramilitary Heimwehr movement, which preferred a system that strengthens presidential authority.

However, owing to the financial ramifications of the Great Depression, all parties agreed to suspend the election in favor of having Wilhelm Miklas reelected by the Federal Assembly.

The annexation was legally formalised after Austria and Germany simultaneously passed what was effectively the same law; a plebiscite with 99% support was intended to give the Anschluss additional democratic legitimacy.

When Austria was re-established as an independent state on 27 April 1945, the party leaders forming the provisional cabinet decided not to write a new constitution, instead reverting to that of 1920, as amended in 1929.

[21] Even though this revision was still somewhat controversial at that point, it was part of Austria's most recent constitutional framework, giving it at least some much-needed form of democratic legitimacy.

The party leaders were also afraid that lengthy discussion might provoke the Red Army, then in control of Vienna, to barge in and impose Communist rule.

Following the November 1945 legislative election, however, the Federal Assembly temporarily suspended this provision and installed Karl Renner as president of Austria as of 20 December.

[22] The suspension in question seemed to have been motivated mainly by a lack of money; no attempt was ever made to prolong it, and Renner had already been the universally accepted, de facto head of state anyway.

A notable exception was Kurt Waldheim, who became the subject of national and international controversy, after his service in the Wehrmacht and the Sturmabteilung were revealed to the public.

[24] Another exception was Thomas Klestil, who attempted to assume a far more active political role; he called for the grand coalition to remain in power and demanded to represent Austria in the European Council but ultimately failed on both counts.

While requests are made on a discretionary basis, countersignatures exist to confirm that the act has in fact been signed by the president and meets all constitutional prerequisites.

Once a potential partner is found, the winning party will subsequently enter more serious and comprehensive "coalition negotiations" (Koalitionsverhandlungen), a process usually lasting several months.

President Wilhelm Miklas did not make use of this power when Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß absolished the Constitution to establish the dictatorial Federal State of Austria.

Ensuing the Ibiza affair and a likely collapse of the Cabinet, Kickl moved to appoint Peter Goldgruber – with whom he had close ties – to the office of director general for Public Security, which would have granted him direct control over Austrian law enforcement.

So far, only President Wilhelm Miklas has made use of this power, after the Christian Social Party had lost its coalition partner and thus the support of Parliament.

[58][59] The Constitution states as follow: To ward off irreparable damages to the general public, at a time where the National Council is not in session and cannot be convened in time, at the request of the Cabinet, and with the assent of the Standing Subcommittee of the Principal Committee of the National Council, the president is empowered to adopt provisional regulations that have the force of law.Emergency decrees cannot alter the Constitution or essential laws.

Day-to-day military operations are administered by the minister of defense, who is referred to as supreme commander (Befehlshaber) of the Armed Forces by the Constitution.

Following the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy, the Principal Committee of the newly established National Council began serving as the main decision-making body of the Armed Forces.

Another power is the bestowal of the Promotio sub auspiciis Praesidentis rei publicae, a golden ring serving as the highest possible distinction and decoration for doctoral students.

[88][89] The principal residence and workplace of the president is situated in the Leopoldine Wing in the Hofburg Imperial Palace, which is located in the Innere Stadt of Vienna.

As its name already divulges, the Hofburg is an edifice stemming from the imperial era; it was built under Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I in the 13th century.

Following severe allied bombardments during World War II, the chancellery building sustained heavy damage and consequently became uninhabitable.

The first president of the Second Republic, Karl Renner, deliberately chose the Leopoldine Wing, as its creation and history (in particular the interior design) was largely influenced by Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresia, who had a popular public image at the time.

[98] The agency is made up of various clerks, political advisers, legal counsellors, spokespeople as well as the presidential adjutant, an army officer formally charged with the protection of the president.