The Hofburg election is decided in the four major federal states. Lower Austria, Vienna, Upper Austria and Styria make up 70 percent of the eligible voters. Styria, which used to be the candidate to actually enter the Hofburg, gambled the status of the “trendy country” in 2016. They consistently voted for the FPÖ candidate Norbert Hofer.
In 2016, Styria got it “wrong” – whose results usually arrive relatively early – in all three ballots (including the canceled second round). Alexander Van der Bellen never got the majority of the Styrian votes. On the first ballot he was even third behind Hofer and Styrian Irmgard Griss, only second in the two second rounds. This is not surprising, given that the FPÖ was the first in Styria to win in the 2013 National Council elections.
Van der Bellen immediately ahead in Vienna
In the three states with more than a million voters (in Styria there are slightly fewer), Van der Bellen gradually won the majority in 2016: Vienna, then still governed by the Red-Green Party, was the only federal state in which he was the first was on the first ballot; there it was not enough to win all over Austria. Upper Austria was added to the canceled second round in May and when it was repeated in December, Lower Austria also fell into the hands of Van der Bellen. This also applies to Salzburg, so that the new Hofburg boss with Vorarlberg and Tyrol (which Van der Bellen led in May) became first in a total of six federal states. Only in Styria, Carinthia and Burgenland (Hofer’s homeland) did his opponent get more votes.
That means that in two red countries (Carinthia had already voted out the FPÖ in 2013,) the blue candidate was favored over the former leader of the Greens (who remained independent) – while in Vienna Van der Bellen consistently led the way. In general, it played little role in the previous Hofburg elections which party dominated in the federal states. The two candidates of SPÖ (Rudolf Hundstorfer) and ÖVP (Andreas Khol) also stood behind Van der Bellen, Hofer and Griss in the core countries of their parties. In the previous presidential elections, the candidates nominated by the respective traditional party had almost consistently prevailed.
Country result on election night
You can read how the individual federal states voted this year on 9 October from 5 p.m. (but still without voting by letter). The result of Vorarlberg, where polling stations traditionally close early, can be expected at the end of the Austrian elections. In Vienna, all polling stations are open until 5 p.m. – which poses a major challenge for the extrapolators. Because for their first forecasts there are no results from Vienna yet. The Viennese result, like that from Lower Austria, usually comes relatively late – as soon as it is available, the general result is known (usually between 7.30 pm and 8 pm).
But about 18 percent of voters live in Vienna – and even more, 20 percent, in Lower Austria. 17 percent are Upper Austrian – meaning these three big countries in the east together make up more than half of the vote. They all have over a million eligible voters. Styria (15 percent of voters) is missing about 45,000 in a million. Burgenland has the fewest voters: about 233,000 (or 3.7 percent). On October 9, a total of 6.4 million Austrians will be allowed to vote.
Source: Krone
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