Members of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty that ruled the
Austro-Hungarian Empire have asked for the right to run for the Austrian
presidency.
Rudolf Vouk, their lawyer, said the family has lodged a
request for the repeal of a 90-year-old ban that prohibits its members from
being elected Austria's head of state.
"Such a disposition is no longer justifiable and
contravenes the right to free and democratic elections" as well as the
principle of equality before the law, Mr Vouk said.
The family's application to end the ban - a year before
Austria's next presidential elections - was filed with the constitutional
council, with a copy sent to Werner Faymann, the Austrian Chancellor.
The Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1438 to 1806,
and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1867 until its demise in 1918 with defeat
in the First World War.
Since the proclamation of the Austrian republic in November
1918 and the abolition of the aristocracy, the family has been prohibited from
contesting the position of head of state.
"After 90 years, the republic can start to have a bit
more distant relationship with history," said Mr Vouk, who is representing
Ulrich Habsburg-Lorraine, a Green councillor in Carinthia state.
The Austrian presidency - now held by Heinz Fischer, a
Social Democrat elected in 2004 - is largely ceremonial, but carries
significant moral authority.
