Description of Electoral System

The President is elected by direct popular vote to serve a 6-year term. In the Council (Bundesrat) 62 members are chosen by provincial assemblies in proportion to party representation to serve 5-year terms. In the National Council (Nationalrat) 183 members are elected by direct popular vote to serve 4-year terms.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

WANT MORE ELECTION-RELATED STATS FOR AUSTRIA? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR comparative data on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Politics in Austria

(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

DID YOU KNOW?
The turnout of slightly above 70% of registered voters for the 2004 presidential elections was considered low by Austrian standards.

Austria has a multi-party system. From 1945 to 1986 Austria had two strong parties and a third party that was electorally successful; since 1986, four parties (for a few years 5) are represented in parliament. Parties need to pass a four percent vote share threshold or to receive a direct seat at the local level to be represented in the National Council.

The voting age is 18 for federal elections and for other elections in most states, although recent years have seen it lowered to 16 for state and local elections in some states.

Most Recent Election

(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

2009 European Parliament Elections

European Parliament elections took place in Austria on June 7. The elections were to decide the delegation from Austria to the European Parliament, where the country has 17 seats, one less than the previous election in 2004.

Total turnout was about 45 percent, a slight increase since the last election in 2004. The party with the most voter support was the conservative christian-democratic "Austrian People's Party" (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP), with slightly less than 30 percent of the total votes. The party's support dropped with 2.7 percentage points compared to the EP elections in 2004. 

The party that gained the most support compared to the EP elections 2004, was the nationalist-conservative "Freedom Party of Austria" (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) which climbed 6.4 percentage points. "Social Democratic Party of Austria" (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ) saw the worst results out of all the parties, loosing 9.6 percentage points of voter support, resulting in the loss of three seats in the European Parliament.

Past Elections

(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

 2008 Legislative Elections

A legislative snap election for the National Council of in Austria was held on 28 September 2008. The previous election was held in 2006. The election was caused by the withdrawal of Austrian People's Party/ÖVP leader Wilhelm Molterer from the governing grand coalition (led by the Social Democratic Pary/SPÖ) on 7 July. Due to dissatisfaction with the grand coalition and the two main parties (SPÖ and ÖVP), it was widely expected to be a realigning election, with gains for the opposition and up to seven parties expected to be in the National Council after the election.

The losses for the government parties (both the ÖVP and SPÖ had the worst election result in history, dropping 8.35 and 6.08 percentage points in voter support respectively) was heavy, and resulted in strong gains for the far right, where the Austrian People's Party/FPÖ gained 6.5 percentage points and "Jörg Haider's List - BZÖ" (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich) climbing 6.59 percentage points. Neither of the parties "Liberal Forum" nor the "Citizens' Forum Austria" gained enough votes to pass the 2 percent threshold, defying earlier expectations. The result of the election was characterised as a strong surge for the far right and as support for anti-EU rhetoric. After a lot of speculations on possible coalitions in the face of the election results the coalition of ÖVP-SPÖ and the supporting green party was renewed. Read more on the election results here.