Next Austrian legislative election

Next Austrian legislative election
On or before 6 November 2022
All 183 seats in the National Council
92 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls

 
Leader Sebastian Kurz Christian Kern Heinz-Christian Strache
Party ÖVP SPÖ FPÖ
Leader since 15 May 2017 25 June 2016 23 April 2005
Leader's seat Federal election list Federal election list Federal election list
Last election 62 seats, 31.5% 52 seats, 26.9% 51 seats, 26.0%
 
Leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger Maria Stern
Party NEOS PILZ
Leader since 23 June 2018 20 August 2018
Leader's seat Federal election list Federal election list
Last election 10 seats, 5.3% 8 seats, 4.4%
Incumbent Chancellor

Sebastian Kurz
ÖVP

The next Austrian legislative election will be held no later than 6 November 2022, and will elect the 27th National Council.

Background

The 2017 legislative election was called four years into a grand coalition between the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), prompted by the demand of newly elected ÖVP leader Sebastian Kurz for a snap election.[1] Though the SPÖ won 52 seats, as it did in the 2013 election, the ÖVP and FPÖ made large gains, increasing by 15 seats to 62 and 11 seats to 51, respectively, making the prior the largest party at the federal level. NEOS gained a single seat, the Peter Pilz List entered the National Council with 8 seats, and the Greens fell short of the 4% threshold and lost all 24 seats.[2] Following the election, President Alexander Van der Bellen asked Kurz to form the next government, and the ÖVP initiated exploratory talks with the other parties in the National Council.[3] The ÖVP officially started coalition negotiations with the FPÖ on 25 October, agreeing on a five-point roadmap.[4] Negotiations drew towards a close in late November,[5] and the parties announced a coalition agreement on 15 December,[6] with the coalition government led by Kurz sworn in on 18 December.[7]

On 4 November 2017, Peter Pilz announced that he would not take his seat after accusations of sexual harassment.[8] On 11 June 2018, Pilz returned to the National Council and was sworn in after accusations of sexual harassment were dropped by the state prosecution. His return was made possible by the resignation of another member of the National Council, Peter Kolba, who stepped down after significant disputes within the List Pilz. The swearing-in ceremony of Pilz was met with heavy resistance, because almost all female representatives walked out of the parliament room as he was about to be sworn in.[9]

On 7 May 2018, Matthias Strolz announced that he will step down as leader of NEOS and hand over the party leadership in June, citing personal reasons and a successful period for the party since creation in 2012 with steady electoral gains during his term.[10] On 23 June 2018, party delegates elected Beate Meinl-Reisinger as the new leader of NEOS during a meeting in Vienna.[11]

On 20 August 2018, Maria Stern was elected new party leader of the List Pilz during a party meeting in Vienna. During the meeting, members also agreed to rename the list. A PR agency has been hired to work out the future name, which will be presented in "a few months".[12]

On 18 September 2018, opposition leader Christian Kern announced that he would resign as leader of the Austrian Social Democrats to run as lead candidate for the European Parliament in 2019.[13] On 22 September 2018, former Minister of Health Pamela Rendi-Wagner was designated as the new chairwoman of the Social Democratic Party. She will officially become the new party leader after a delegate vote at a 24-25 November party convention. She will also become the first female leader of the SPÖ.

Electoral system

The 183 members of the National Council are elected by open list proportional representation at the level of one federal constituency consisting of all of Austria, 9 state constituencies, and 39 regional constituencies. The number of seats elected by each constituency is determined in accordance with the results of the most recent census. Seats are allocated in a three-stage process, from regional constituencies to state constituencies to the federal constituency. For parties to receive seats in the National Council, they must either win a seat in at least one constituency or clear a 4 percent national electoral threshold.[14] Seats are distributed according to the Hare method in the first two stages, at the level of regional and state constituencies,[15] with the remaining constituencies allocated using the D'Hondt method at the federal level to ensure proportionality with the election result.[16]

In addition to voting for a national party list, voters have the option of casting three preferential votes capable of changing the order of precedence for candidates on a party list: one each at the federal, state, and regional level. The threshold to increase the position of a candidate on a federal party list is 7 percent, compared to 10 percent at the state level and 14 percent at the regional level. Preferential votes for candidates on regional party lists may be indicated by marking the given spot on the ballot, whereas the name or ranking number must be provided for preferential votes for party list candidates on the state and federal level.[17]

Date

Per Article 26 and 27 of the Federal Constitutional Law, the National Council must be convened by the President no later than 30 days after the most recent election. The standard duration of the legislative period of the National Council is five years, by the end of which it must be renewed through an election on a Sunday or a public holiday.[18][19] Because the inaugural meeting of the 26th National Council will take place on 9 November 2017, as determined by President Alexander Van der Bellen, the latest date on which the next legislative election can be held is 6 November 2022.[20]

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 26th National Council.

Name Ideology Leader 2017 result
Votes (%) Seats
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei		 Christian democracy Sebastian Kurz 31.5%
62 / 183
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs		 Social democracy Christian Kern 26.9%
52 / 183
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs		 Right-wing populism Heinz-Christian Strache 26.0%
51 / 183
NEOS NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum
NEOS – Das Neue Österreich und Liberales Forum		 Liberalism Beate Meinl-Reisinger 5.3%
10 / 183
PILZ Peter Pilz List
Liste Peter Pilz		 Left-wing populism Maria Stern 4.4%
8 / 183

Opinion polls

References

  1. ↑ "Die Ausgangslage der Parteien vor den Neuwahlen". Der Standard. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "Österreich - Nationalratswahl 2017". Bundesministerium für Inneres. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  3. ↑ "Van der Bellen will Ministerliste von Kurz "sehr genau prüfen"". Der Standard. Austria Presse Agentur. 20 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  4. ↑ "ÖVP und FPÖ planen "umfassende budgetäre Bestandsaufnahme"". Die Presse. Austria Presse Agentur. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  5. ↑ Thomas Prior (27 November 2017). "Schwarz-Blau im Endspurt". Die Presse. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "ÖVP und FPÖ fixieren Koalitionspakt". Der Standard. Austria Presse Agentur. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  7. ↑ "Liveticker: Neue ÖVP-FPÖ-Regierung angelobt, Tausende bei Protesten in Wien". Der Standard. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  8. ↑ Peter Temel (4 November 2017). "Vorwurf der sexuellen Belästigung: Peter Pilz tritt zurück". Kurier. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Redaktion (11 June 2018). "Peter Pilz (fast) ohne Frauen angelobt". Die Presse. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  10. ↑ Marie-Theres Egyed (7 May 2018). "Neos-Chef Matthias Strolz tritt zurück – Meinl-Reisinger soll Parteispitze übernehmen". Der Standard. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  11. ↑ Thomas Götz (23 June 2018). "Meinl-Reisinger wird heute zur Neos-Chefin gewählt". Kleine Zeitung. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  12. ↑ Redaktion (22 August 2018). "Peter Pilz verspricht Neustart: "Die Maria kann es besser"". Der Kurier. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  13. ↑ Reuters (18 September 2018). "Austrian Center-Left Ex-Chancellor Kern to Run for European Parliament". New York Times. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  14. ↑ "Wahlen zum Nationalrat". Österreichisches Parlament. 12 September 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  15. ↑ "Wahlen". Bundesministerium für Inneres. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  16. ↑ "Das Verhältniswahlrecht und das Ermittlungsverfahren bei der Nationalratswahl". Österreichisches Parlament. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  17. ↑ "Vorzugsstimmenvergabe bei einer Nationalratswahl". HELP.gv.at. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  18. ↑ "Bundesrecht konsolidiert: Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz Art. 26, tagesaktuelle Fassung". Rechtsinformationssystem. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  19. ↑ "Bundesrecht konsolidiert: Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz Art. 27, tagesaktuelle Fassung". Rechtsinformationssystem. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  20. ↑ "Zusammensetzung des neuen Nationalrats nun fix". Österreichisches Parlament. 20 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
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