The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure - Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.
The "self-elimination of Parliament" (German: Selbstausschaltung des Parlaments) was a constitutional crisis in the First Austrian Republic caused by the resignation on March 4, 1933 of all three presidents (speakers) of the National Council, the more powerful house of the Austrian Parliament. The law had no mechanism for the National Council to operate without a president, and Engelbert Dollfuss, the Chancellor, stated that Parliament had eliminated itself and that his government had the authority to rule by decree under emergency provisions dating from the First World War. This was a decisive step in the transition from a democratic republic to the fascist Federal State of Austria, as opposition attempts to reconstitute the National Council were unsuccessful.
The Austrian Parliament (German: Österreichisches Parlament) is the bicameral federal legislature of the Austrian Republic. It consists of two chambers – the National Council and the Federal Council. In specific cases, both houses convene as the Federal Assembly. The legislature meets in the Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna.