European Parliament election, 2014 (Austria)

European Parliament election in Austria, 2014

← 2009 25 May 2014
All 18 Austrian seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	2,909,497 (45.39%) 0.58 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Othmar Karas Eugen Freund Harald Vilimsky Party ÖVP SPÖ FPÖ Alliance EPP PES EAF Last election 6 seats, 29.98% 5 seats, 23.74% 2 seats, 12,71% Seats won 5 5 4 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 761,896 680,180 556,835 Percentage 26.98% 24.09% 19.72%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Ulrike Lunacek Angelika Mlinar Party Greens NEOS Alliance Green ALDE Last election 2 seats, 9,93% New party Seats won 3 1 Seat change 1 New party Popular vote 410,089 229,781 Percentage 14.52% 8.14%

The 2014 European Parliament election was held on 25 May 2014 in Austria. As a result of the Lisbon Treaty Austria held 19 seats in the European Parliament, but with Croatia joining the Union in 2013, Austria's allocation was reduced to 18 seats.

Three Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) decided to stand in the election again, but not for their original parties. They are Martin Ehrenhauser (former member of Hans-Peter Martin's List), Ewald Stadler (formerly top candidate for the Alliance for the Future of Austria) and Angelika Werthmann (former member of Hans-Peter Martin's List).

Ehrenhauser is now top candidate for the left-wing electoral alliance "Europe Different" (Europa Anders), which includes the Communists and the Pirate Party.

Stadler founded the eurosceptic "Reform Conservatives" (Die Reformkonservativen, REKOS), who intend to join the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group in European Parliament.

Angelika Werthmann, who was part of the ALDE group between 2012 and 2014, had originally planned to contest the election for NEOS, but in early 2014 she claimed that "the buying of votes" had occurred at the NEOS party caucus for the 2013 national election. She withdrew her NEOS-candidacy for the 2014 European election in January 2014. The Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) initially planned to field Ulrike Haider-Quercia, daughter of the late party founder Jörg Haider, as their frontrunner. She withdrew on 8 April, complaining that the party would not accept her "independent policy". Instead of her, the BZÖ's new top candidate is Angelika Werthmann. She was also excluded from the liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament after joining the BZÖ.

...
Wikipedia