Austrian legislative election, 2013

Austrian legislative election, 2013
Austria
29 September 2013

All 183 seats in the National Council
92 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 4,782,410 (74.91%)[1]
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Werner Faymann Michael Spindelegger Heinz-Christian Strache
Party SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ
Leader since 2008 2011 2005
Last election 57 seats, 29.26% 51 seats, 25.98% 34 seats, 17.54%
Seats won 52 47 40
Seat change Decrease 5 Decrease 4 Increase 6
Popular vote 1,258,605 1,125,876 962,313
Percentage 26.82% 23.99% 20.51%
Swing Decrease2.44% Decrease1.99% Increase2.97%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Eva Glawischnig Frank Stronach Matthias Strolz
Party Greens Stronach NEOS
Leader since 2008 2012 2012
Last election 20 seats, 10.43% Did not contest Did not contest
Seats won 24 11 9
Seat change Increase 4 Increase 11 Increase 9
Popular vote 582,657 268,679 232,946
Percentage 12.42% 5.73% 4.96%
Swing Increase1.99% Increase5.73% Increase4.96%

  Seventh party
 
Leader Josef Bucher
Party BZÖ
Leader since 2009
Last election 21 seats, 10.7%
Seats won 0
Seat change Decrease 21
Popular vote 165,746
Percentage 3.53%
Swing Decrease7.17%

Largest party by state (left) and district (right)

Chancellor before election

Werner Faymann
SPÖ

Elected Chancellor

Werner Faymann
SPÖ

Legislative elections were held in Austria on 29 September 2013.[2]

All 183 seats in the National Council will be filled, with MPs elected by party-list proportional representation. For this election, the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) had proposed a reduction in the number of MPs from 183 to 165 as part of austerity measures, but despite overwhelming support from the Austrian populace,[3] the proposals failed to pass in parliament.[4]

Overview

The government is a grand coalition between Austria's two largest parties, the SPÖ and ÖVP, who rule with the SPÖ's Werner Faymann as Chancellor. Support for both governing parties has fallen marginally since the 2008 election. The Freedom Party (FPÖ) and Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) made significant gains in the previous election, but while the FPÖ gained support after the 2008 election, the BZÖ shrank after the death of its founder Jörg Haider and taking a turn toward liberalism. Additionally, nine of the BZÖ's 21 elected members to the National Council changed their party affiliation during the term: five members joined the Team Stronach, while four joined the FPÖ. Team Stronach, funded by Austrian-Canadian businessman Frank Stronach, has emerged as an anti-euro alternative and eventually started to hurt the FPÖ's standing in the polls. The Greens have solidified their position as the fourth-largest party in opinion polls.

Qualified parties and lists

Parties and lists represented in the National Council

Parties and lists that contested the election in all states[5]

Other parties and lists that contested the election only in the following states

Ballot qualification for parties and lists

In order to contest the election federally, a party/list needs to collect 2.600 valid signatures from eligible voters ahead of the election.

Parties can also contest the election in individual states only. For this, they have to collect the following numbers of signatures:

Parties can collect the signatures between July 9 and August 2. The state and federal election commissions will validate the signatures and announce the qualified parties on August 8.

Campaign

Issues included corruption scandals across the main parties and Austria's relative financial stability facing a probable crisis.[6]

Opinion polling

Recent opinion polls

Agency/Source Date SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ Greens Stronach BZÖ NEOS Pirates KPÖ Others
Gallup/Neos.eu 2013-09-23 27% 23% 21% 14% 6% 3% 4% 1% 1% -
OGM/Kurier 2013-09-21 27% 22% 21% 14% 6% 4% 4% 1% 1% -
Market/Der Standard 2013-09-20 26% 23% 19% 15% 7% 4% 3% 1% 1% 1%
Gallup/Österreich 2013-09-20 27% 23% 20% 14% 7% 2.5% 3.5% 1% 1% 1%
Karmasin/Heute 2013-09-20 27% 23% 21% 14% 7% 2% 3% 1.5% 1.5% -
Hajek/ATV 2013-09-19 27% 23% 20% 15% 7% 3% 3% 1% 1% 1%
Meinunungsraum/Neos.eu 2013-09-19 28% 24% 19% 15% 7% 2% 4% - - 1%
Market/Standard 2013-09-15 26% 22% 20% 15% 9% 3% 2% 1% 1% 1%
Spectra/Oberösterreichische Nachrichten 2013-09-14 26% 23% 20% 13% 9% 4% 1.5% - - 3.5%
Karmasin/Profil 2013-09-14 28% 25% 20% 15% 6% 2% 3% - - 1%
Gallup/Österreich 2013-09-13 28% 25% 20% 15% 7% 1% 3% 1% - -
Gallup/Österreich 2013-09-06 28% 24% 19% 15% 8% 2% 2% 1% 1% -
OGM/Kurier 2013-08-31 27% 24% 20% 15% 7% 3% 2% 1% - 1%
Karmasin/Profil 2013-08-31 28% 24% 20% 15% 7% 2% 1% - - 3%
Market/Standard 2013-08-30 26% 22% 19% 16% 9% 3% 2% 1% 1% 1%
Gallup/Österreich 2013-08-30 28% 23% 19% 15% 9% 2% 2% 1% 1% -
Meinungsraum/NEWS 2013-08-29 27% 24% 19% 14% 8% 2% 3% 2% - 1%
Spectra/Vorarlberger Nachrichten 2013-08-24 27% 25% 19% 14% 7% 3% - - - 5%
Gallup/Österreich 2013-08-23 28% 24% 18% 15% 9% 2% 2% 1% 1% -
Karmasin/Heute 2013-08-23 28% 25% 20% 15% 7% 1% 2% 1% 1% -
Market/Standard 2013-08-15 26% 24% 18% 15% 9% 3% 2% 1% 1% 1%
IMAS/Kronen Zeitung 2013-08-10 27% 25% 20% 13% 9% 3% - - - 3%
Karmasin/Profil 2013-08-10 28% 25% 18% 16% 7% 3% - - - 3%
Gallup/Österreich 2013-08-09 28% 25% 17% 16% 8% 2% 2% 1% 1% -
Meinungsraum/Neos.eu 2013-08-08 26% 24% 20% 13% 9% 2% 3% 2% 1% -

Older opinion polls

Results

Map showing the results of the election in the state level by the party voted most.
 Summary of the 29 September 2013 National Council of Austria election results
Parties Votes +/− % +/− Seats +/−
Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs) 1,258,605 −171,601 26.82 −2.44 52 −5
Austrian People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei) 1,125,876 −143,780 23.99 −1.99 47 −4
Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs) 962,313 +105,284 20.51 +2.97 40 +6
The Greens – The Green Alternative (Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative) 582,657 +72,721 12.42 +1.99 24 +4
Team Stronach (Team Stronach für Österreich) 268,679 New 5.73 New 11 New
NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS – Das Neue Österreich) 232,946 New* 4.96 New* 9 New*
Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich) 165,746 -357,187 3.53 –7.17 0 –21
Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Österreichs) 48,175 +10,813 1.03 +0.27 0
Pirate Party of Austria (Piratenpartei Österreichs) 36,265 New 0.77 New 0 New
Christian Party of Austria (Christliche Partei Österreichs) 6,647 –24,433 0.14 –0.50 0
Others 4,998 0.11 0
Invalid/blank votes89,503–14,140
Total 4,782,410 –208,542 100.0 183
Registered voters/turnout6,384,308 74.91–3.90
Source: Austrian Interior Ministry
Popular vote
SPÖ
 
26.82%
ÖVP
 
23.99%
FPÖ
 
20.51%
GRÜNE
 
12.42%
STRONACH
 
5.73%
NEOS
 
4.96%
BZÖ
 
3.53%
KPÖ
 
1.03%
PPÖ
 
0.77%
Other
 
0.25%
Parliamentary seats
SPÖ
 
28.42%
ÖVP
 
25.68%
FPÖ
 
21.86%
GRÜNE
 
13.11%
STRONACH
 
6.01%
NEOS
 
4.92%

Results by state

State results in % SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ Greens TS NEOS BZÖ KPÖ others
 Burgenland 37.3 26.8 17.4 6.8 5.9 2.8 2.0 0.5 0.7
 Carinthia 32.4 15.2 17.9 11.8 6.9 3.7 10.8 0.6 0.7
 Lower Austria 27.6 30.6 18.8 9.6 4.7 4.5 2.7 0.8 0.7
 Upper Austria 27.2 25.4 21.4 12.2 4.8 3.4 3.5 0.7 1.4
 Salzburg 23.0 26.7 21.2 14.8 5.2 4.6 3.2 0.6 0.7
 Styria 23.8 20.9 24.0 10.6 10.0 3.9 3.9 1.8 1.1
 Tyrol 18.3 32.3 19.4 15.2 5.6 4.9 3.0 0.7 0.7
 Vorarlberg 13.1 26.3 20.2 17.0 5.3 13.1 2.4 0.5 2.0
 Vienna 31.6 14.5 20.6 16.4 3.9 7.6 2.4 1.7 1.3
 Austria 26.8 24.0 20.5 12.4 5.7 5.0 3.5 1.0 1.0
Source: Nationalratswahl 2013, Austrian Ministry of the Interior

The losses for the government parties (both the SPÖ and the ÖVP had the worst election result in history) resulted in strong gains for the far right, the election was seen as strong for the far-right and in support of Eurosceptics.

Especially in Carinthia, the Freedom Party (FPÖ) benefited most from the BZÖ's weakness since Jörg Haider's death in autumn 2008: the FPÖ's share of the vote rose from 7.6% to 17.9%, and they became the second strongest party in the state. In contrast, the state's former leading party BZÖ came fifth, with their share falling from 38.5% to 10.8%, while the SPÖ came first in Carinthia with 32.4%.

However, in Styria the FPÖ came first with 24.0%; the SPÖ were second with 23.8%.

In the other states no major changes of the leading party occurred.

Government formation

The "grand coalition" of SPÖ and ÖVP have retained their majority, although other coalitions could still be possible.[7] While the SPÖ are keen to renew the coalition, the ÖVP are also considering the possibility of a coalition with the FPÖ and another smaller party.[8] On October 14, the SPÖ and the ÖVP agreed to start coalition talks with each other.[9] On December 16, the second Faymann cabinet was formed.

See also

References

  1. "Nationalratswahl 2013 - Endgültiges Gesamtergebnis". Website of the Austrian Ministry of the Interior (in German). Bundesministerium für Inneres. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  2. Regierung legt sich fest: Wahl am 29. September - Die Presse, 21 February 2013
  3. Sparpaket: Prammer sagt Verkleinerung des Nationalrats ab - Der Standard, 19 November 2012
  4. Regierungsspitze hofft weiter auf NR-Verkleinerung - Der Standard, 20 November 2012
  5. Nationalratswahl 2013 - Abgeschlossene und veröffentlichte Landeswahlvorschläge - bmi.gv.at, 8 August 2013
  6. Austrians voting general elections Al Jazeera 29 September 2013
  7. Governing coalition slips election Al Jazeera 29 September 2013
  8. Austria coalition vote Yahoo!
  9. Austria's biggest parties agree coalition talks Reuters, Oct. 14

External links

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