Austrian citizens are heading to the polls today in hotly contested parliamentary elections, which could see the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) take the lead for the first time.
Founded after the Second World War by former Nazis, the FPÖ crashed out of a coalition government with the People’s Party (ÖVP) in May 2019 following a corruption scandal. However, since then, the party has bounced back in regional elections and even won Austria’s EU elections in June.
According to polling data from the Austria Press Agency in the lead-up to Sunday’s vote, the FPÖ was narrowly ahead of the ÖVP, 27.1% to 24.7%. The ÖVP currently heads a coalition with the Green Party. Austria’s Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, is the leader of the ÖVP.
The Social Democrats (SPÖ) were polling in third place with 20.6%, followed by NEOS at 10%, the Green Party at 8.3%, the Beer Party at 3.8%, and the Communist Party (KPÖ) at 3%. You can read about all the participating parties and their political positions here.
The threshold to enter the National Council (Nationalrat), the lower house of Austria’s parliament, which passes most of the country’s laws, is 4%.
None of the parties will win an outright majority, so coalition building will be necessary. The ÖVP, SPÖ, NEOS, and the Green Party have all ruled out the possibility of joining forces with the FPÖ. This means that even if the FPÖ wins, it won’t automatically get to nominate the chancellor or form the government.
Most of the leading candidates – including party leaders and other senior officials – such as Nehammer, SPÖ leader Andreas Babler, NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger, KPÖ lead candidate Tobias Schweiger, and Beer Party leader Dominik Wlazny, had already cast their votes by Sunday morning.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen also went to vote shortly before midday at the University of Music in Vienna, accompanied by his wife, Doris Schmidauer.
A large proportion of votes have already been cast by postal ballot. Across Austria, more than 1.4 million people applied for a voting card to vote by mail, with a notable increase in rural areas compared to the last election. This could push the overall voter turnout to over 80%.
In Vienna alone, a quarter of the electorate has either already voted or will vote by postal ballot. Additionally, more than 15,500 voting cards have been sent to Austrian citizens living abroad.
The first exit poll results are expected shortly after 17:00 CET, as soon as the polls close.
