Two parties are lining up – Preferential voting in the EU elections: who wins, who rises

As expected based on the federal-state results, Thomas Waitz overtook Lena Schilling, who was first on the list among the Greens. Waitz will therefore take over the leadership of the delegation in the European Parliament – we reported. The 51-year-old managed to collect 75,018 preferential votes, almost four times as many as the 19,525 votes needed to reclassify the Greens. But Schilling also did well in terms of preferential votes: he received 45,732.

ÖVP, third on the list, rushes forward
Alexander Bernhuber of the ÖVP also managed to reach the limit of five percent of votes allocated to a party, which was necessary for progress. With 44,641 preferential votes, he managed to be reclassified by the smallest margin; his side’s hurdle was 43,204. This meant that Bernhuber could overtake Angelika Winzig, second on the list and former ÖVP delegation leader.

Harald Vilimsky is the clear leader of the preference voters; 83,576 voters wrote his name on the ballot paper. Behind him is Waitz with 75,018 votes, and in third place was the SPÖ leader on the list, Andreas Schieder, with 61,982. ÖVP top candidate Reinhold Lopatka achieved 58,013, NEOS top candidate Helmut Brandstätter 49,444. This is followed by Schilling with 45,732, Bernhuber with 44,641 and Winzig with 38,426.

The results of the other top candidates: Maria Hubmer-Mogg (DNA) with 18,317 and Günther Hopfgartner (KPÖ) with 6,989 preferential votes.

Small changes are still possible
The Federal Electoral Authority will determine and publish the final results of the preferential votes at its meeting on June 26, 2024, the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement on Wednesday. It cannot be ruled out that changes will occur compared to the figures sent via instant reports.