Legislative elections were held in Austria on 15 October 2017. The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) emerged as the largest party in the National Council, winning 62 of the 183 seats. The Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) finished second with 52 seats, slightly ahead of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which received 51 seats. NEOS finished fourth with 10 seats, and PILZ (which split from the Green Party at the start of the campaign) entered parliament for the first time and came in fifth place with 8 seats. The Green Party failed to cross the 4% threshold and was ejected from parliament, losing all of its 24 seats.
Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in Central Europe comprising 9 federated states. Its capital, largest city and one of nine states is Vienna. Austria has an area of 83,879 km2 (32,386 sq mi), a population of nearly 9 million people and a nominal GDP of $477 billion. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The terrain is highly mountainous, lying within the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 m (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 m (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other regional languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene.
The Austrian People's Party is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was founded immediately following the reestablishment of the Republic of Austria in 1945 and since then has been one of the two largest Austrian political parties with the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). In federal governance, the ÖVP has spent most of the postwar era in a grand coalition with the SPÖ. Most recently, it has been junior partner in a coalition government with the SPÖ since 2007. However, the ÖVP won the 2017 election, having the greatest number of seats and formed a coalition with the national-conservative Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). Its chairman Sebastian Kurz is the youngest Chancellor in Austrian history.
The National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian Parliament and is frequently referred to as the lower house. The constitution endows the National Council far more power than the Federal Council.
The SPÖ had been the largest party after the previous elections in 2013, and had led the government since 2007.
The FPÖ's tally of 51 seats is the second-closest that a third party has come to overtaking either the ÖVP or SPÖ since World War II, behind only its tie with the ÖVP in seat count (and narrow edge in votes) in the 1999 election. The 2017 result is only the second time since 1966 that the ÖVP has been the largest party in the National Council.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Sebastian Kurz, who had been named leader of the ÖVP only five months before the election, claimed victory on election night.[1] Incumbent Chancellor Christian Kern, leader of the SPÖ, announced that he was willing to consider a coalition with the FPÖ—even though he said that the likelihood of such a coalition was very small.[2] Kurz was formally invited to form a government on 20 October, and began coalition talks with FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache four days later. Negotiation teams on both sides were established to work on a coalition agreement. Kurz planned to have a new government in place by Christmas.[3] The talks proved to be successful and led to the formation of the Kurz government on December 18.
Sebastian Kurz is Chancellor of Austria since December 2017 and Chairman of the Austrian People's Party since May 2017.
Christian Kern was Chancellor of Austria from 17 May 2016 to 18 December 2017 and chairman of the Social Democratic Party from 25 June 2016 to 25 September 2018.
Heinz-Christian Strache is an Austrian politician serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Austria since 2017. He also has been Minister for the Civil Service and Sport since January 2018 and Chairman of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) since April 2005. He previously served as a member of the National Council from October 2006 until December 2017 and as a member of the Gemeinderat and Landtag of Vienna (2001–2006).
Background
Conservative ÖVP party leader Reinhold Mitterlehner resigned on 10 May.[4] On 14 May Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration Sebastian Kurz was unanimously elected new leader of the ÖVP by the federal party committee and called a snap election. Kurz announced the creation of an independent (but ÖVP-backed) list for the elections under the name "List Sebastian Kurz - The new People's Party", which would be open to non-ÖVP experts or otherwise-interested people.[5]
Reinhold Mitterlehner is an Austrian politician who has served in the cabinet of Austria as Federal Minister of Economy from 2008 to date. In September 2014 he also became Vice Chancellor of Austria and Chairman of the Austrian People's Party. On 9 May 2016 he briefly assumed powers and duties as Acting Chancellor of Austria while his coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, underwent a change in leadership. After a series of quarrels within the grand coalition as well as his own party, Mitterlehner announced his resignation on 10 May 2017, which became effective on 17 May 2017.
A snap election is an election called earlier than expected.
Green Party leader Eva Glawischnig resigned from all her offices on 18 May, citing family and health-related reasons but also increasing political pressure over the last months following the expulsion of the Young Greens from the party, as well as the coming challenging election campaign.[6] On 19 May, the Green Party committee unanimously elected current Tyrol state party head Ingrid Felipe as its new party leader. However, MEPUlrike Lunacek was chosen as the party's candidate for the Chancellorship in the 2017 elections.[7]
Ingrid Felipe is an Austrian politician from the Green Party. She has been second deputy Governor of Tyrol since May 2013 and from June to October 2017, she serves as federal spokeswoman of her party.
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
Ulrike Lunacek is an Austrian politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Austria. She is a member of the Austrian green party The Greens – The Green Alternative, part of the European Green Party. In 2017, she was the Greens' top candidate for the Austrian general election, in which the party suffered a historic defeat and failed to win a single seat in parliament for the first time since 1983.
On 14 June, the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) announced that it would drop a 30-year ban on coalitions with the far-right FPÖ under certain conditions. The party's "values compass" included a set of requirements that any coalition partner had to fulfil, including having a pro-European policy, a commitment to a minimum wage of €1,500 a month, gender equality and upholding human rights.[8]
On 27 June, Team Stronach announced that they would not contest the elections after founder Frank Stronach decided to stop all financial contributions to the party and stated his intention to leave politics.[9]
On 8 July, independent 2016 presidential candidate Irmgard Griss joined an electoral alliance with NEOS. Although not a member of the party and despite not participating in their primaries, she was given second place on the NEOS list after party leader Matthias Strolz. This measure was approved by a wide margin among delegates at a party meeting in Vienna.[10]
On 14 July, former FPÖ-leader in Salzburg Karl Schnell announced that he would run in the election with a list called "Freie Liste Österreich – Liste Dr. Karl Schnell (FLÖ)". Schnell already has the support of 3 MPs in parliament and won't need to submit 2600 signatures to be on the ballot.[11]
On 17 July, long-time Green Party MP and founding member Peter Pilz decided to leave the parliamentary club. On 25 June, a majority of Green Party delegates at a convention voted not to renew his spot on the party list for the election. Pilz has repeatedly stated interest for running his own list in the election. On 25 July, he presented his new list, Peter Pilz's List, during a press conference. Pilz already has the support of 4 MPs in parliament and won't need to submit 2600 signatures to be on the ballot.[12]
On 14 August, the SPÖ ended their co-operation with Israeli election adviser Tal Silberstein(de ) after he was arrested in Israel on suspicion of money-laundering and corruption. For several years, Silberstein worked as an opinion poll and campaign strategy consultant on behalf of the Social Democratic Party.[13]
On 14 August, popular Austrian comedian Roland Düringer announced that his satirical, anti-establishment list My Vote Counts! (G!LT) collected more than 2600 signatures and will appear on the ballot in every state.[14]
On 16 August, the KPÖ+ election alliance between the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) and the Young Greens(de ) announced that they collected more than 2600 signatures and will appear on the ballot in every state. Following their expulsion from the Green Party in May, the Young Greens joined the alliance with the Communist Party.[15]
On 30 September, SPÖ general secretary and campaign manager Georg Niedermühlbichler resigned, following revelations of an internal SPÖ "dirt campaign" directed against ÖVP-leader Sebastian Kurz. The negative Facebook campaigning websites were initiated by former, controversial SPÖ adviser Tal Silberstein who got fired by the party a month before.[16] In the days following the revelations and a blame-game about the origins and responsibility in the affair, the ÖVP decided to sue the SPÖ and vice versa.[17]
On 6 October, PR adviser and former Silberstein associate Peter Puller claimed to have been offered €100,000 by the ÖVP in exchange for internal information on the SPÖ election campaign, citing a meeting between himself and a Kurz campaign official. The ÖVP are denying that any offers were made.[18]
Electoral system
The 183 members of the National Council are elected by open listproportional representation in nine multi-member constituencies based on the states (with varying in size from 7 to 36 seats) and 39 sub-constituencies. Seats are allocated using the Hare method at the sub-constituency level and the D'Hondt at the federal level, with an electoral threshold of 4% or one seat in one of the 39 sub-constituencies. Voters are able to cast a party vote and one preference votes on each the federal, state and electoral district level for their preferred candidates within that party. The thresholds for a candidate to move up the list are 7% of the candidate's party result on the federal level, 10% on the state level and 14% on the electoral district level.[19] Candidates for sub-constituency level are listed on the ballot while voters need to write-in their preferred candidate on state and federal level.
Qualified parties and lists
Official election ballot (sample)Election poster from the SPÖ
In order to contest the election federally, a party (or list) was required to obtain either the signatures of three MPs in parliament or to collect 2,600 valid signatures from eligible voters ahead of the elections.
Parties could also contest the election in individual states only; for this, they needed to collect the following numbers of signatures:
Parties were able to collect the signatures between 25 July and 18 August. The state and federal election commissions validated the signatures and announced the qualified parties on August 24.[20]
Sixteen parties qualified to contest the elections:
Parties and lists represented in the National Council before and contesting
According to final numbers, 6,400,993 citizens older than 16 were eligible to vote in the election. A total of 3,307,645 women and 3,093,348 men were eligible to vote. The numbers also included 60,762 Austrians who had their main residence abroad, but who registered in time to vote. Despite Vienna being the most populous state, Lower Austria had the most eligible voters (1,288,802), while Burgenland had the fewest (232,740). After a period of objection, the number of eligible voters was finalized and released on 15 September by the state and federal election commissions.[22]
A total of 889,193 postal ballots had been requested ahead of the election, a new record. That number was up significantly from the election in 2013 when 668,810 ballots were requested. It was estimated that roughly 780,000 postal ballots will be cast, or about 15-16% of all ballots cast. The overwhelming majority of postal ballots was counted on Monday, 16 October and a small part on Thursday, 19 October - when the final election result was made official.[23][24]
Campaign
Issues being debated included immigration, integration, crime and security, tax cuts, job creation/reducing unemployment, pensions and care for the elderly.
On 22 October, after Sebastian Kurz talked with all party leaders and Chancellor Kern being the last one he talked with, Kern announced that the SPÖ would prepare for opposition starting on Monday, 23 October.[26]
On 24 October, Sebastian Kurz officially invited the FPÖ to coalition talks. The FPÖ accepted this offer and first talks started on Wednesday, 25 October.[27]
On 16 December, the new ÖVP-FPÖ government was officially presented at a press conference by Sebastian Kurz and Heinz-Christian Strache. As result of the negotiations the ÖVP staffed eight cabinet posts and the FPÖ six. Each party also established an additional State Secretary. President Van der Bellen approved the new government and it was sworn in on 18 December.[28]
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