National Council election: Election in Austria: Chancellor sees “strong electoral movement”

In the parliamentary election in Austria, Chancellor and ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer was one of the first among the top candidates to cast his vote. The 51-year-old head of government told reporters in front of his polling station that he was confident because he had recently sensed a “strong electoral movement” in favor of the ÖVP. According to recent surveys, the conservative ÖVP has now reduced the gap to the right-wing FPÖ, which has been favored for a long time, to two percentage points. FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl is not expected at his polling station in Lower Austria until the afternoon.

In Austria, almost 6.4 million eligible voters are called to cast their votes today. The last polling stations close at 5 p.m. A first projection is expected shortly afterwards. Voter turnout in 2019 was around 76 percent. Pollsters expect a higher number to be achieved this time. The National Council has 183 representatives and will be constituted on October 24th.

FPÖ sees double-digit plus

According to surveys, the right-wing FPÖ has a good chance of becoming the strongest force. It would be the first time that the FPÖ won a National Council election. The polls recently saw the right-wing populists at around 27 percent – a double-digit increase compared to 2019. The conservative ÖVP came in at around 25 percent in surveys. That would be a significant drop compared to 2019, when the party with Sebastian Kurz at the top recorded 37.5 percent. According to surveys, the social democratic SPÖ was recently at around 21 percent – roughly the level of the record low of 2019.

But even if the FPÖ wins, it is questionable whether party leader Kickl will become chancellor of the Alpine republic. So far, all other parties have refused to work with the 55-year-old. Most recently, Austria was governed by a coalition of the ÖVP and the Greens. The alliance was forged by the then ÖVP boss Kurz.