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Next Austrian legislative election

← 2024 In or before 2029
All 183 seats in the National Council 92 seats needed for a majority
Leader Herbert Kickl Karl Nehammer (acting) Andreas Babler Party FPÖ ÖVP SPÖ Last election 28.8%, 57 seats 26.3%, 51 seats 21.1%, 41 seats   Leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger Werner Kogler Party NEOS Greens Last election 9.1%, 18 seats 8.2%, 16 seats
Incumbent Chancellor TBD

Legislative elections will be held in Austria by 2029 to elect the 29th National Council, which is the lower house of the country's bicameral parliament.

Coalition talks between the ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS collapsed after the 2024 elections. After, Karl Nehammer his resignation as both Austria's Prime Minister and ÖVP's leader. FPÖ has conditioned any coalition agreement on the hard right Herbert Kickl becoming Chancellor, who supports the remigration of non-ethnic Europeans and identitarianism. A snap election will almost certainly be called if ÖVP does not agree to Kickl becoming Prime Minister.

Background

The 2024 legislative election resulted in the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) becoming the largest party in parliament for the first time. The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) finished in second place after suffering significant losses and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) dropped to third place for the first time in the party's history even though its vote share was almost identical to the 2019 election. NEOS also obtained its best-ever result while the Greens remained in parliament albeit with a reduced seat share. No other party was able to clear the 4% threshold to win seats.

Leading issues

Cultural issues

Cultural issues are expected to play a leading role in the election. Disagreements over the matter played a role in collapsing a potential three-way coalition between the ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS.

Economy

The economy is expected to play a leading role in the election. Disagreements over the matter played a role in collapsing a potential three-way coalition between the ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS.

Immigration and ethnic politics

Völkisch nationalism and remigration are expected to be leading themes of the 2025 election. In Austria, Identitäre Bewegung Österreich has popularized the notion of a "Great Replacement" in the country, the notion that ethnic Europeans are being "replaced"and losing political, cultural, social, and ethnic influence due to intentional mass non-white immigration. By April 2019, a branch of the Freedom Party of Austria, who at the time were in coalition government as a junior partner with the Austrian People's Party, announced a "national call for remigration". By the 2024 Austrian legislative campaign, the FPÖ heavily emphasised remigration, particularly to Islamic countries. Kickl is an advocate for remigration, which he and the FPÖ define as the deportation of immigrants and their descendants, including citizens, who refuse to integrate. In June 2024 he called for the European Union to establish a "remigration commissioner". Kickl's 2024 federal election campaign focused heavily on opposing immigration and advocating remigration, in order to retore the "homogeneous" nature of the Austrian people; Kickl had been calling for a "Fortress Austria" since 2023.

Electoral system

The 183 members of the National Council are elected by open list proportional representation at three levels; a single national constituency, nine constituencies based on the federal states, and 39 regional constituencies. Seats are apportioned to the regional constituencies based on the results of the most recent census. For parties to receive any representation in the National Council, they must either win at least one seat in a constituency directly, or clear a 4 percent national electoral threshold.

Following the elections, seats are allocated to the candidates of successful parties and lists in a three-stage process, starting with the regional constituencies. Seats are distributed according to the Hare quota in the regional constituencies, and with unallocated seats distributed at the state constituency level. Any remaining seats are then allocated using the D'Hondt method at the federal level, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's national vote share and its share of parliamentary seats.

In addition to voting for a political party, voters may cast three preferential votes for specific candidates of that party, but are not required to do so. These additional votes do not affect the proportional allocation based on the vote for the party or list, but can change the rank order of candidates on a party's lists 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. The names of candidates on regional party lists are printed on the ballot and can be marked with an "x" to indicate the voter's preference. Preference votes for candidates on party lists at the state and federal level, however, must be written in by the voter, either by writing the name or the rank number of the candidate in a blank spot provided for that purpose.

Opinion polls

References

1. ^ Staff (4 Jan 2024). "The Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will resign after talks on forming a government collapsed". EuroNews. Retrieved 2025-01-04. The Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will resign after talks on forming a government collapsed.
2. ^ "EXPLAINED: So what happens next after Austria's coalition talks collapse?". The Local Austria. 2025-01-04. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
3. "La "remigration", un concept qui essaime au-delà des identitaires" [Remigration, a concept that goes beyond identity]. Libération (in French). April 12, 2019. A key concept of French identity thought, remigration is a new euphemism for an old phenomenon, namely the forced displacement of entire populations. This notion is an integral part of the ideological project of the identity movement and figures prominently in its literature
4. "Leidende FPÖ zet bij Oostenrijkse verkiezingen in op remigratie". MSN. 21 August 2024.
5. ^ "In Austria, the far-right leader, Herbert Kickl, is campaigning for 'remigration'". Le Monde. 28 September 2024.
6. "Leading FPÖ focuses on remigration in Austrian elections". MSN (in Dutch). 21 August 2024.
7. "Herbert Kickl: sharp-tongued leader of Austria's far right". France 24. 29 September 2024.
8. "Austria far right calls for EU 'remigration' commissioner". Euractiv. 12 June 2024.
9. "'This is the normalisation of racism': apprehension at prospect of election success for Austria's far right". The Guardian. 27 September 2024.
10. "Right on the rise in elections in Lower Austria". Augsburger Allgemeine (in German). 29 January 2023.
11. ""Fortress Austria": Kickl sees "antonym to the asylum magnet Austria"". Vienna.at (in German). 19 January 2023.
12. "Wahlen zum Nationalrat". Österreichisches Parlament. 12 September 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
13. "Wahlen". Bundesministerium für Inneres. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
14. "Das Verhältniswahlrecht und das Ermittlungsverfahren bei der Nationalratswahl". Österreichisches Parlament. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
15. "Vorzugsstimmenvergabe bei einer Nationalratswahl". State of Austria (official website). Retrieved 16 October 2019.
16. "Vorzugsstimmenvergabe bei einer Nationalratswahl". HELP.gv.at. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.

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• Future elections in Europe
• Legislative elections in Austria
• Opinion polling for future elections