Votes counted – NR elections: the final result does not entail a change in the mandate

After the National Council election on Sunday, the remaining postal votes were counted on Thursday. It was rumored in advance that a mandate could be transferred from the FPÖ to the ÖVP. That didn’t happen.

There was little change in the percentages after the remaining postal votes were counted – both compared to Sunday’s results and compared to the interim results after Monday’s round of postal votes were counted. The balance of power also remained virtually the same.

In these National Council elections, the 2023 electoral law reform came into effect for the first time: this means that the majority of postal votes had already been counted on Sunday.

The end result at a glance:

1. FPÖ with 28.8 percent and 57 mandates (+26)
2. ÖVP with 26.3 percent and 51 mandates (-20)
3. SPÖ with 21.1 percent and 41 mandates (+1)
4. NEOS with 9.1 percent and 18 mandates (+3)
5. The Greens with 8.2 percent and 16 mandates (-10)

This means that Turquoise-Red has only one mandate left with a total of 92 seats. Because this could easily prevent decisions by individual MPs, such a two-party coalition is not considered very likely.

Blue-Turquoise would then still have a comfortable majority for a two-party coalition with 108 mandates, although ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer does not want to cooperate with FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl.

The variant with the Freedom Party, which was excluded by the SPÖ, could also count on a majority of 98 seats. The sugar coalition consisting of ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS would have 110 seats. The results will then become “official” on October 16, after the meeting of the Federal Election Authority.

4,929,745 votes were cast by the 6,346,059 eligible voters. Voter turnout in the elections was 77.68 percent, which is an increase compared to 2019. At the time it was 75.59 percent.