Turnout: 56.25%
About this election
The 2024 European Parliament election in Austria, held on 9 June 2024, was won for the first time by the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ). It was the party's first-ever victory in a nationwide Austrian election, narrowly edging the governing ÖVP, and it set the tone for the FPÖ's historic triumph in the National Council election three months later.
Austria elects its MEPs in a single national constituency by proportional representation, with a 4% threshold and preferential voting. For the 2024–29 term Austria's allocation rose to 20 seats. As a single-district contest, the European election serves as a nationwide popularity test, and in 2024 it was watched closely as the first major electoral gauge before the autumn legislative election, with the FPÖ leading in the polls.
The FPÖ, led nationally by Herbert Kickl with Harald Vilimsky heading the European list, campaigned against migration, the EU's Green Deal and sanctions on Russia, and against what it called "EU centralism". The ÖVP defended a mainstream pro-European line, the SPÖ under Andreas Babler sought to rally the centre-left, and the Greens and NEOS pressed pro-EU, climate-focused messages. Inflation, migration and the war in Ukraine dominated the debate.
The FPÖ won 25.36% and six of the 20 seats — its first nationwide win. The ÖVP took 24.52% and five seats, the SPÖ 23.22% and five, the Greens 11.08% and two, and NEOS 10.14% and two. The Communists (KPÖ) and the new DNA list fell short of seats. Turnout was 56.25%. The three-way near-tie between the FPÖ, ÖVP and SPÖ underlined how competitive Austrian politics had become.
The five-year swing was dramatic on both wings. The FPÖ climbed from 17.20% to 25.36% — a gain of more than eight points that recouped everything lost to the Ibiza scandal and more — while the ÖVP fell from 34.55% to 24.52%, shedding a quarter of its electorate along with the Kurz era itself. The SPÖ barely moved (23.89% to 23.22%), which in a shrinking centre counted as stability rather than success. Among the smaller parties, the Greens gave back part of their 2019 high, slipping from 14.08% to 11.08%, while NEOS advanced from 8.44% to 10.14%, its best European result to date. Turnout eased from 59.77% to 56.25%, still the second-highest of Austria's European elections since the 1990s.
The FPÖ's European breakthrough was a clear warning of the realignment to come. Just over three months later the party won the National Council election outright, the first far-right party to do so in post-war Austria. Yet, as in the presidential contests of 2016 and 2022, the FPÖ's electoral strength did not translate into power: the other parties combined to form a government without it, leaving Kickl leading the opposition.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.