#_Suffrage: universal at age 19; compulsory for presidential
elections

_#_Elections:

President--last held 8 June 1986 (next to be held May 1992);
results of Second Ballot--Dr. Kurt WALDHEIM 53.89%, Dr. Kurt STEYRER
46.11%;

National Council--last held 7 October 1990 (next to be
held October 1994);
results--SP0 43%, OVP 32.1%, FPO 16.6%, GAL 4.5%, KPO 0.7%,
other 0.32%;
seats--(183 total) SP0 80, OVP 60, FP0 33, GAL 10

_#_Communists: membership 15,000 est.; activists 7,000-8,000

_#_Other political or pressure groups: Federal Chamber of Commerce and
Industry; Austrian Trade Union Federation (primarily Socialist); three
composite leagues of the Austrian People's Party (OVP) representing
business, labor, and farmers; OVP-oriented League of Austrian
Industrialists; Roman Catholic Church, including its chief lay
organization, Catholic Action

_#_Member of: AfDB, AG (observer), AsDB, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN, CSCE,
EBRD, ECE, EFTA, ESA, FAO, G-9, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU,
IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO,
ITU, LORCS, NAM (guest), NEA, OAS (observer), OECD, PCA, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNDOF, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIIMOG, UNTSO, UPU, WCL,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

_#_Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Friedrich HOESS; Embassy at
2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202)
483-4474; there are Austrian Consulates General in Chicago, Los Angeles,
and New York;

US--Ambassador Roy Michael HUFFINGTON; Embassy at Boltzmanngasse
16, A-1091, Vienna (mailing address is APO New York 09108-0001);
telephone [43] (222) 31-55-11; there is a US Consulate General in Salzburg

_#_Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red

_*_Economy
_#_Overview: Austria boasts a prosperous and stable capitalist
economy with a sizable proportion of nationalized industry and extensive
welfare benefits. Thanks to an excellent raw material endowment, a
technically skilled labor force, and strong links to West German
industrial firms, Austria has successfully occupied specialized niches
in European industry and services (tourism, banking) and produces almost
enough food to feed itself with only 8% of the labor force in
agriculture. Improved export prospects from German unification
and the opening of Eastern Europe will also boost the economy during
the next few years. Living standards are roughly comparable with the
large industrial countri