Compared to the previous interim results, there were only marginal changes as a result of Thursday’s counting. A mandate that had already moved from the ÖVP to the FPÖ with Monday’s count was “shaky” until the end, where it ultimately remains. While the FPÖ and ÖVP have a whopping mandate majority, the ÖVP and SPÖ only have a wafer-thin majority, with just 92 seats.
There was little change in the percentages after the remaining postal votes were counted – both compared to the Sunday result and compared to the interim results after the Monday round of postal votes were counted. The balance of power also remained virtually the same.
FPÖ was the clear election winner with 28.8 percent
The FPÖ is the clear election winner with 28.8 percent of the vote (an increase of 12.7 percentage points) ahead of the ÖVP with 26.3 percent (-11.2). The SPÖ got 21.1 percent (+/-0.0), the NEOS got 9.1 percent (+1.0) and the Greens landed at 8.2 percent (-5.7). The Beer Party (2.0 percent) failed to gain entry, as did the KPÖ (2.4), the Madeleine Petrovic list and the NONE list (0.6 percent each).
4,929,745 votes were cast by the 6,346,059 eligible voters. The voter turnout was 77.68 percent, which is an increase compared to 2019. At that time it was 75.59 percent.
26 new FPÖ mandates
In terms of mandates, the overall result for the FPÖ means a huge increase in its number of representatives: in the future there will be 57 blue representatives in the House of Representatives (+26). The ÖVP, on the other hand, lost a massive amount of mandates and has 51 seats (-20). The SPÖ is almost stagnating and now has 41 MPs (+1). The NEOS are growing a little and are represented by 18 MPs (+3). The Greens had to give up, as they only had 16 seats in the National Council with a loss of ten seats.
With regard to possible coalition majorities, the result means that Blue-Turquoise has a whopping majority of 108 seats. ÖVP boss Karl Nehammer has so far ruled out collaboration with FPÖ boss Herbert Kickl. A turquoise-red coalition would also have enough mandates for a majority, but (as was the case after Monday’s count) only 92 mandates and therefore exactly one “overhang” seat. Since this could easily prevent decisions from individual MPs, such a two-party coalition is not considered very likely. The variant excluded by the SPÖ together with the Freedom Party could also count on a majority of 98 seats.
Postal votes counted
What was new in this National Council election was the process of counting the postal voting cards. Thanks to the 2023 electoral law reform, the majority of postal votes were counted on Sunday – according to the election researchers at the Foresight Institute, around 80 percent of the voting cards issued. The further (larger) part of the outstanding votes followed on Monday, and the rest on Thursday.
The result will then become “official” on October 16th after the meeting of the Federal Election Authority.
