2013 Austrian legislative election

Legislative elections were held in Austria on 29 September 2013 to elect the 25th National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament.[2]

2013 Austrian legislative election

29 September 2013

All 183 seats in the National Council
92 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout4,782,410 (74.9%)[1]
3.9%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Werner Faymann Michael Spindelegger Heinz-Christian Strache
Party SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ
Leader since 8 August 2008 20 May 2011 23 April 2005
Last election 57 seats, 29.3% 51 seats, 26.0% 34 seats, 17.5%
Seats won 52 47 40
Seat change 5 4 6
Popular vote 1,258,605 1,125,876 962,313
Percentage 26.8% 24.0% 20.5%
Swing 2.4% 2.0% 3.0%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Eva Glawischnig Frank Stronach Matthias Strolz
Party Greens Stronach NEOS
Leader since 3 October 2008 27 September 2012 27 October 2012
Last election 20 seats, 10.4% Did not contest Did not contest
Seats won 24 11 9
Seat change 4 11 9
Popular vote 582,657 268,679 232,946
Percentage 12.4% 5.7% 5.0%
Swing 2.0% 5.7% 5.0%

  Seventh party
 
Leader Josef Bucher
Party BZÖ
Leader since 26 April 2009
Last election 21 seats, 10.7%
Seats won 0
Seat change 21
Popular vote 165,746
Percentage 3.5%
Swing 7.2%

Results of the election, showing seats won by state and nationwide. States are shaded according to the first-place party.

Chancellor before election

Werner Faymann
SPÖ

Elected Chancellor

Werner Faymann
SPÖ

The parties of the ruling grand coalition, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), suffered losses, but placed first and second respectively and retained their combined majority. The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) won 20.5%, an increase of three percentage points, and The Greens achieved their best result up to this point with 12.4% and 24 seats. With the collapse of the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), which fell below the 4% electoral threshold and lost all its seats, two new parties entered the National Council: Team Stronach with 5.7% and NEOS – The New Austria with 5.0%.

The election saw considerable change in the composition of the National Council; the ruling grand coalition won its lowest combined share of the popular vote in history. The coalition was nonetheless renewed, and Werner Faymann of the SPÖ remained Chancellor.

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.

Contesting parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 24th National Council.

Name Ideology Leader 2008 result
Votes (%) Seats
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Social democracy
Werner Faymann
29.3%
57 / 183
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Christian democracy
Michael Spindelegger
26.0%
51 / 183
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism

Heinz-Christian Strache
17.5%
34 / 183
BZÖ Alliance for the Future of Austria
Bündnis Zukunft Österreich
National conservatism
Right-wing populism

Josef Bucher
10.7%
21 / 183
GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
Green politics
Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek
10.4%
20 / 183

Qualified parties

In addition to the parties already represented in the National Council, nine parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. Four of these were cleared to be on the ballot in all states, five of them only in some.[3]

On the ballot in all 9 states

On the ballot in some states only

Campaign

Issues included corruption scandals across the main parties and Austria's relative financial stability facing a probable crisis.[4]

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

Party Votes % +/− Seats +/−
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 1,258,605 26.82 −2.44 52 −5
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 1,125,876 23.99 −1.99 47 −4
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 962,313 20.51 +2.97 40 +6
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 582,657 12.42 +1.99 24 +4
Team Stronach (FRANK) 268,679 5.73 New 11 New
NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS) 232,946 4.96 New 9 New
Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) 165,746 3.53 –7.17 0 –21
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 48,175 1.03 +0.27 0 ±0
Pirate Party of Austria (PIRAT) 36,265 0.77 New 0 New
Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ) 6,647 0.14 –0.50 0 ±0
Der Wandel (WANDL) 3,051 0.07 New 0 New
Socialist Left Party (SLP) 947 0.02 New 0 New
EU Exit Party (EUAUS) 510 0.01 New 0 New
Men's Party (M) 490 0.01 New 0 New
Invalid/blank votes 89,503
Total 4,782,410 100 183 0
Registered voters/turnout 6,384,308 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%
National Council seats
SPÖ
28.42%
ÖVP
25.68%
FPÖ
21.86%
GRÜNE
13.11%
STRONACH
6.01%
NEOS
4.92%

Results by state

State SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ Grüne TS NEOS BZÖ Others Turnout
 Burgenland37.326.817.46.85.92.82.01.282.8
 Carinthia32.415.217.911.86.93.710.81.372.5
 Lower Austria27.630.618.89.64.74.52.71.581.0
 Upper Austria27.225.421.412.24.83.43.52.178.3
 Salzburg23.026.721.214.85.24.63.21.374.5
 Styria23.820.924.010.610.03.93.92.975.4
 Tyrol18.332.319.415.25.64.93.01.467.0
 Vorarlberg13.126.320.217.05.313.12.42.565.9
 Vienna31.614.520.616.43.97.62.43.069.7
 Austria26.824.020.512.45.75.03.52.174.9
Source: Austrian Interior Ministry

Preference votes

Alongside votes for a party, voters were able to cast a preferential votes for a candidate on the party list. The ten candidates with the most preferential votes on a federal level were as follows:[5]

Party Pos. Candidate Votes
ÖVP 3 Sebastian Kurz 35,728
FPÖ 1 Heinz-Christian Strache 28,635
ÖVP 1 Michael Spindelegger 25,258
SPÖ 1 Werner Faymann 21,253
GRÜNE 1 Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek 19,582
SPÖ 38 Resul Ekrem Gönültas 12,715
GRÜNE 48 Karl Öllinger 8,031
BZÖ 1 Josef Bucher 5,359
NEOS 1 Matthias Strolz 5,007
GRÜNE 4 Peter Pilz 4,393

Government formation

The "grand coalition" of SPÖ and ÖVP retained their majority.[6] While the SPÖ were keen to renew the coalition, the ÖVP also considered the possibility of a coalition with the FPÖ and another smaller party.[7] On October 14, the SPÖ and the ÖVP agreed to start coalition talks with each other,[8] and on December 16, the second Faymann cabinet was formed by the SPÖ and the ÖVP.

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. Nationalratswahl 2013 - Abgeschlossene und veröffentlichte Landeswahlvorschläge - bmi.gv.at, 8 August 2013
  4. Austrians voting general elections Al Jazeera 29 September 2013
  5. "Preferential votes" (PDF). Austrian Interior Ministry.
  6. Governing coalition slips election Al Jazeera 29 September 2013
  7. Austria coalition vote Yahoo!
  8. Austria's biggest parties agree coalition talks Reuters, Oct. 14
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