The “final results” preliminary results“ from the parliamentary elections in Austria, which confirmed the decisive victory of the Austrian Freedom Party, which won with 28.8 percent the first place in the elections for the National Council for the first time since 1945, BTA reported.
On Thursday, the Home Office will officially announce the election results after all postal ballots have been counted, but the likelihood of the result changing is negligible.
The Austrian People's Party came in second with 26.3 percent, and the Austrian Social Democratic Party scored a record low of 21.1 percent. According to the forecasts, NEOS won 9.2 percent, its best result in a national election, while the "Greens" lose about five percent and collect 8.3 percent.
According to the latest forecasts, small parties do not manage to cross the four percent barrier.
After 98.6 percent of the ballots have been counted and a permissible error of 0.4 percentage points, the seats in the new parliament will be distributed as follows: the Austrian Freedom Party will have 56 seats, the Austrian People's Party - with 52, the Austrian Social Democratic party - with 41, NEOS - with 18 and "Greens - Green Alternative" - with 16 seats.
Voter turnout has increased compared to the 2019 vote. According to the forecasts, including the electoral cards, 78.5 percent of those entitled to vote went to the polls. In 2019, voter turnout was 75.59 percent.
In his opening statement, Federal President Alexander van der Bellen described the “democratic rules of the game” in forming a government. Those who cross the threshold of 50 percent of the vote can govern independently: “Anyone who fails to overcome 50 percent alone must convince other parties,” Van der Bellen said.
The task now is to get closer to each other, to find compromises and lasting solutions, he pointed out. According to him, his task will be to appoint the chancellor and the members of the new federal government: “This requires a certain trust in the people. As my conscience dictates, I will ensure that the main pillars of democracy will be respected when forming the government.
Political observers are already speculating about possible future coalitions after the Austrian People's Party and the Austrian Social Democratic Party said they would not form a coalition with Herbert Kickel's Austrian Freedom Party. Kickel has already made a claim for the chancellor post, but according to the constitution, the president is not obliged to charge him with forming a government.