Around two-thirds of those entitled to vote went to the polls: According to extrapolations, including postal votes, the turnout for this Hofburg election was almost 66 percent. In a first reaction, Van der Bellen called it high in international comparison.
But that shouldn’t hide the fact that turnout in presidential elections has steadily declined. Six years ago it was 68.5 percent in the first ballot and 74.2 percent in the run-off between Alexander Van der Bellen and Norbert Hofer.
The previous outlier was the 2010 election, when Heinz Fischer was re-elected: only 53.6 percent of those entitled to vote took part. In Fischer’s first choice, participation was still 71.6 percent.
By 1980 participation was still more than 90 percent; the highest was recorded in 1951 at 96.9 percent. After 1980, voter turnout continued to decline until 2010.
According to the preliminary result, the turnout in the federal states varied – but the postal votes that are counted today are not yet included. In Upper Austria, it is around 52.4 percent, according to the preliminary result, about average. It was significantly lower in Vorarlberg with only 44.15 percent and in Tyrol: 44.71 percent.
In Burgenland and Lower Austria, participation was well above average.
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Source: Nachrichten
