Heinz Fischer

Heinz Fischer (German: [ˈhaɪnts ˈfɪʃɐ] ^ⓘ; born 9 October 1938) is an Austrian politician who served as the president of Austria from 2004 to 2016. Fischer previously served as minister for science from 1983 to 1987 and as president of the National Council of Austria from 1990 to 2002.^[1] A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) until 2004, he suspended his party membership as he became president.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Chancellor

Preceded byThomas Klestil

Succeeded byAlexander Van der Bellen

Preceded byThomas Prinzhorn

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Heinz Fischer
Fischer in 2018

President of Austria
In office 8 July 2004 – 8 July 2016
Chancellor	Wolfgang Schüssel Alfred Gusenbauer Werner Faymann Christian Kern
Preceded by	Thomas Klestil
Succeeded by	Alexander Van der Bellen
Second President of the National Council
In office 20 December 2002 – 16 June 2004
Preceded by	Thomas Prinzhorn
Succeeded by	Barbara Prammer
President of the National Council
In office 5 November 1990 – 20 December 2002
Preceded by	Rudolf Pöder
Succeeded by	Andreas Khol
Minister for Science and Research
In office 24 May 1983 – 21 January 1987
Chancellor	Fred Sinowatz Franz Vranitzky
Preceded by	Hertha Firnberg
Succeeded by	Hans Tuppy

Personal details
Born	(1938-10-09) 9 October 1938 (age 87) Graz, Reichsgau Steiermark, State of Austria, German Reich (now Graz, Styria, Austria)
Party	Independent (2004–present)
Other political affiliations	Social Democratic Party (until 2004)
Spouse	Margit Binder (m. 1968)
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Vienna (PhD)
Military service
Allegiance	Austria
Branch/service	Austrian Armed Forces
Years of service	1958
Unit	Heerestelegrafenbataillon Army Signal Corps

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Early life

Fischer was born in Graz, Styria, which had recently become part of Nazi Germany, following Germany's annexation of Austria in March 1938. Fischer attended a grammar school which focused on humanities and graduated in 1956. He studied law at the University of Vienna, earning a doctorate in 1961. Apart from being a politician, Fischer also pursued an academic career, and became a professor of Political Science at the University of Innsbruck in 1994.^[5]

Political career

Fischer was a member of the Austrian parliament, the National Council, from 1971, and served as its president from 1990 to 2002. From 1983 to 1987 he was minister for science in a coalition government headed by Fred Sinowatz.

First term as president

In January 2004 Fischer announced that he would run for president to succeed Thomas Klestil. He was elected on 25 April 2004 as the candidate of the opposition Social Democratic Party. He polled 52.4 per cent of the votes to defeat Benita Ferrero-Waldner, then foreign minister in the ruling conservative coalition led by the People's Party.

Fischer was sworn in on 8 July 2004 and took over office from the college of presidents of the National Council, who had acted for the president following Klestil's death on 6 July.

Second term as president

Fischer with Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the Pink House.

In April 2010, Fischer was re-elected president of Austria, winning a second six-year term in office with almost 79% of the votes. The voter turnout of merely 53.6% was a record low.^[6] Around a third of those eligible to vote voted for Fischer, leading the conservative daily Die Presse to describe the election as an "absolute majority for non-voters".^[7] The reasons behind the low turnout may have been that pollsters had predicted a safe victory for Fischer (past Austrian presidents running for a second term had always won) and that the other large party, ÖVP, had not nominated a candidate of their own, and had not endorsed any of the three candidates. Prominent ÖVP members, unofficially but in public, even suggested to cast a blank vote, which 7% of the voters did.

Post-presidency

In 2017, he and former UN secretary-general Ban-Ki Moon co-founded the Ban Ki-Moon Centre for Global Citizens, an international non-governmental organization to advance the Sustainable Development Goals, headquartered in Vienna.^[8]