Austria
Parliamentary Elections
Electoral system
- Bicameral parliament.
- Chamber name: National Council (Nationalrat)
- Members (lower house): 183
- Term: 5 years
- Constituencies: The 9 multi-member constituencies (from 7 to 36 seats each) correspond to the country's provinces (Länder); seats are allotted to each based on population. The provinces are broken down into 43 regional constituencies (Regionalwahlkreise).
- Voting system: since 1992 a proportional three-tier system. At the first tier seats allocated in 43 regional districts by quota (Hare). Only parties that already won a seat at the first level or received at least four per cent of the nation- wide votes allowed to participate at the second-tier allocation (Länder). Seats already won at the first tier are subtracted from those received at the second tier. At the third national tier the same threshold as for the second tier applies. Seats allocated by D’Hondt formula. Seats already won at the first two tiers are subtracted from the seats allocated at the third tier.
- Voter requirements: 16 years of age; Austrian citizenship, including naturalized citizens; there is no residence requirement; citizens overseas can vote without restrictions.
- Voting is not compulsory.
Latest elections
Election results 2008, main parties. NUTS 2.
The latest parliamentary election in Austria, a snap election, held on 28 September 2008, ended the shortest parliamentary term in post-war Austria. The 2006 SPÖ-ÖVP grand coalition was terminated in early July 2008, due to profound policy disagreements, particularly on the EU issue. The election results revealed significant losses for the two major parties. ÖVP won 26% of the vote – its worst ever electoral result - and the SPÖ won only 29.3%, losing 6 points on its 2006 vote. The winners of the election were the FPÖ who managed to drive home 17,5% of the vote, a gain of 6,5 points. The real surprise, however, was the strong performance of the BZÖ. Winning 10.7% of the vote meant more than doubling its 2006 vote and tripling its MPs. Even though the snap election had resulted in losses for the two major parties, the SPÖ-ÖVP was sworn in on December 2, 2008, after agreeing on a government program and the division of portfolios.
Sources
Müller, W. C. 2009. The snap election in Austria, September 2008. Electoral Studies, Volume 28: 514-517.
Ministry of the Interior (Bundesministerium für Inners), Election results.
Constituency-Level Elections Archive (CLEA): country descriptions.
Inter-Parliamentary Union: PARLINE database on national parliaments
Government (Austria), in Europa World online. London, Routledge. University of Bergen. Retrieved 27 October 2009 from http://www.europaworld.com/entry/at.is.29
