
A total of nine parties will compete for seats in Austria’s parliamentary elections on 29 September, election officials have announced.
Two parties, Liste Petrovic and the Wandel party, which will appear on the ballot as KEINE, submitted their signatures of support just in time before the deadline on 2 August.
Liste Petrovic was founded by former Green Party leader and critic of COVID-19 measures Madeleine Petrovic, while KEINE presents itself as a party against establishment politics.
They will join seven other parties on the ballot: the five that are already represented in parliament – the People’s Party (ÖVP), the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), the Freedom Party (FPÖ), the Green Party, and NEOS – as well as the Beer Party and the Communist Party (KPÖ).
Non-parliamentary parties were required to collect 2,600 signatures nationwide to qualify.
Three other parties managed to gather enough signatures only in certain federal states, according to a press release from the Ministry of the Interior.
These parties are the MFG, known for its criticism of coronavirus measures, Liste Gaza, and Die Gelben. The latter is standing solely in Burgenland, led by former FPÖ politician Manfred Kölly.
The state electoral authorities will now scrutinise the submitted paperwork, including the signatures, more closely. Those “deemed valid” will be published by 8 August at the latest. The order of publication will then determine the placement of the party names on the ballot.
Read our guide to the elections here: Austria’s Main Political Parties Explained