Elections in Austria

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This article provides information on elections and election results in Austria.

On a federal level, there are two main elections: for head of state (Federal President) every six years, and for the 183 seats of the National Council (Nationalrat) every four years by proportional representation (to be changed to five years at the beginning of the next election period.)

Austria has a multi-party system. From 1945 to 1986 Austria had two main parties, with a third party also winning seats in the National Council. Since 1986 there have been generally four parties, for a few years even five. At least 4% of the popular vote, or a "direct mandate" in one of the districts, is needed for representation in the National Council.

The voting age has recently been lowered from 18 to 16 in all federal elections, following some states which had lowered it for state and local elections before that.

[edit] Latest elections

[edit] 2008 Parliamentary election

e • d **Summary of the 28 September 2008 National Council of Austria election results**
Parties		Votes	+/−	%	+/−	Seats	+/−
	Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs)	1,430,206	−233,780	29.26	−6.08	57	−11
	Austrian People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei)	1,269,656	−346,837	25.98	−8.35	51	−15
	Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs)	857,029	+337,431	17.54	+6.50	34	+13
	BZÖ – Jörg Haider's List (BZÖ – Liste Jörg Haider)	522,933	+329,394	10.70	+6.59	21	+14
	The Greens – The Green Alternative (Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative)	509,936	−10,194	10.43	−0.62	20	−1
	Liberal Forum (Liberales Forum)	102,249	*	2.09	*	—	¶
	Citizens' Forum Austria Fritz Dinkhauser's List (Bürgerforum Österreich Liste Fritz Dinkhauser)	86,194	*	1.76	*	—	*
	Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Österreichs)	37,362	−10,216	0.76	−0.25	—	—
	Independent Citizens' Initiative Save Austria (Unabhängige Bürgerinitiative Rettet Österreich)	35,718	*	0.73	*	—	*
	The Christians (Die Christen)	31,080	*	0.64	*	—	*
	Animal Rights Party earth–human–animals–nature (Tierrechtspartei earth–human–animals–nature) ^[2]	2,224	*	0.05	*	—	*
	Left (Linke) ^[1]	2,138	† –119	0.04	† ±0.00	—	†
	Dipl.-Ing. Karlheinz Klement (Dipl.-Ing. Karlheinz Klement) ^[3]	347	*	0.01	*	—	*
	List Strong (Liste Stark) ^[3]	237	−75	0.00	–0.01	—	—
	Total (turnout 78.82%; +0.34%)	4,887,309	—	100.0	—	183	—
Notes: * Did not contest the 2006 election. ¶ Did not contest the 2006 election on its own, but won a seat on the SPÖ's list. ^[1] Contested the election only in Burgenland, Salzburg, Tyrol, Upper Austria and Vienna. † Compared to the Socialist Left Party, which contested the 2006 election and was part of the Left in 2008 election. ^[2] Contested the election only in Vienna. ^[3] Contested the election only in Carinthia.
Source: BMI

Main article: Austrian legislative election, 2008

[edit] 2004 Presidential election

e • d **Summary of the 25 April 2004 Austrian Presidential election results**
Candidates and nominating parties	Votes	%
Heinz Fischer (Social Democratic Party of Austria)	2,166,690	52.4
Benita Ferrero-Waldner (Austrian People's Party)	1,969,326	47.6
Total (turnout 70.8 %)	4,136,016	100.0
Invalid votes	182,423
Total votes	4,318,439
Eligible voters	6,030,982
Source: Austrian ministry of Interior