Elections in Austria

This article provides information on elections and election results in Austria.

On a federal level, there are two main elections: for head of state (Federal President) every six years, and for the 183 seats of the National Council (Nationalrat) every five years by proportional representation.

Austria has a multi-party system. From 1945 to 1986 Austria had two main parties, with a third party also winning seats in the National Council. Since 1986 there have been generally four parties, for a few years even five. At least 4% of the popular vote, or a parliamentary seat in one of the regional constituencies, is needed for representation in the National Council.

In some cases, a referendum can be called on by the Austrian Parliament.

In 2007, the voting age was lowered from 18 to 16 in all federal elections, following some states which had lowered it for state and local elections before that.

Austrian citizens who are 16 years or older may stand at elections. Additionally citizens of European Union member states with a permanent residence in Austria may vote at European Union and municipal elections. Citizens who are sentenced to more than one year of imprisonment lose their voting rights. An exception to the rule is the presidential election, where the minimum age to stand as candidate is 35. Until 2011, members of current or former ruling houses were ineligible for the office.

Austrian constitution defines two types of referendums on the federal level: binding referendum and non-binding referendum.

Binding referendum is mandatory:

Binding referendum is facultative (not mandatory) in case of non-comprehensive changes in the Federal Constitution. Such facultative referendum is to be conducted if at least one third of the members of the National Council or the Federal Council requests it.

There were only two binding referendums in post-1945 Austria: The nuclear power referendum in 1978 and the European Union membership referendum which was called because accession to European Union was deemed to be a comprehensive change to Constitution.

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