Under the Proporz system, the posts of Cabinet Ministers were filled by party members as closely as possible in proportion to the votes won by their party in the election. Furthermore, the particular portfolios were selected by each party on the basis of its constituency or any perceived mandate from the election. Thus, for example, the portfolio of Minister for Labour and Social Relations was nearly always held by a member of the SPÖ (Socialist Party), while the ÖVP (conservative party with strong support from farmers and primary industry) took the Ministry which controlled forestry.
Although originally conceived as being the politics of consensus after the ravages of World War II, this system gradually expanded into a system of patronage and nepotism which pervaded many aspects of Austrian life, including very minor bureaucratic posts (even down to teachers) and even many non-political jobs such as some bank employees.
Resentment of the system among party non-members had become widespread by the late 1990's, and polls indicated that Joerg Haider's Proporz reform policy gained the far right FPÖ many traditional socialist voters and centrist ÖVP voters at the same time as his policies, described by some as xenophobic and nationalist, secured sectors of the right wing vote.
Haider's attempted reforms of Proporz were only partially complete when he was forced to resign.
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