Early parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 23 November 1986.[1] They were called by Chancellor Franz Vranitzky of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), as he was not prepared to continue the coalition government with new Freedom Party leader Jörg Haider, who had ousted Norbert Steger at the party convention. The SPÖ won the most seats, and formed a grand coalition with the Austrian People's Party, as neither were willing to work with Haider. Voter turnout was 90.5%.[2]