Austria Legislative election 2019 — Results

At a glance

The Austrian legislative election of 29 September 2019 was a snap poll held in the wake of the "Ibiza affair", the corruption scandal that had destroyed the governing ÖVP–FPÖ coalition. Sebastian Kurz's People's Party (ÖVP) emerged stronger than ever, while the Freedom Party (FPÖ) was punished by voters and the Greens staged a remarkable comeback — setting up Austria's first-ever ÖVP–Green national government.

The political system

Members of the 183-seat National Council are elected by proportional representation across a three-tier system of regional districts, the nine federal states and a national apportionment, with a 4% threshold. Governments require the confidence of the chamber, and the President formally appoints the Chancellor. The 2019 election followed the collapse of the previous coalition and a brief period under a non-partisan caretaker government led by Brigitte Bierlein, Austria's first female chancellor, after the Nationalrat passed a historic no-confidence motion in Kurz.

The run-up to the vote

The campaign was dominated by the fallout from Ibiza and by questions of political integrity. Kurz cast himself as the victim of the scandal and the agent of "clean" renewal, while the FPÖ, now led by Norbert Hofer, struggled to contain further revelations about expenses. The Social Democrats under Pamela Rendi-Wagner sought to rebuild, and the Greens — out of parliament since 2017 — campaigned hard on climate change amid a global wave of environmental mobilisation. Corruption, climate and migration were the defining themes.

The outcome

The ÖVP won 37.46% and 71 seats, its best result since the early 2000s. The SPÖ slumped to 21.18% and 40 seats — its worst result in over a century. The FPÖ fell sharply to 16.17% and 31 seats, paying the price for Ibiza. The Greens surged back to 13.90% and 26 seats, a record for the party, while the liberal NEOS rose to 8.10% and 15 seats. The ÖVP dominated geographically, finishing first in eight of the nine states; only Vienna stayed with the SPÖ.

What happened next

After months of negotiation, Kurz formed an unprecedented coalition between the conservative ÖVP and the Greens, sworn in in January 2020 with the Green leader Werner Kogler as vice-chancellor. The pairing of a hard-line conservative party with the environmentalist left was a novel experiment, immediately tested by the COVID-19 pandemic. It endured despite tensions until Kurz himself resigned in 2021 amid a corruption investigation, ushering in a turbulent period that reshaped the 2024 election.

Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.