2024 European Parliament election in Austria

The ÖVP was the winner of the previous election in 2019, while the SPÖ came in second and the FPÖ third. Trailing further behind were the Greens and NEOS. Other parties failed to win a seat in the new Parliament.

In the period leading up to the election, Austria was governed by a coalition government formed by the ÖVP and the Greens following the 2019 legislative election. Karl Nehammer of the ÖVP had been serving as chancellor since 2021.

Compared to the previous election, Austria was entitled to two more MEPs in this election: one assigned in 2020 due to the seat redistribution after Brexit, and one assigned in 2023 after a pre-election assessment of the Parliament composition based on the most recent population figures. The additional seat assigned in 2020 went to the Green Party.^[2] The 20 members are elected through semi-open list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency with seats allocated through the D'Hondt method. The electoral threshold is set at 4%.^[3]

All people who have Austrian citizenship and a main residence in Austria, Austrian citizens without residence in Austria (Austrians abroad) and other Union citizens (if their main residence is in Austria) are entitled to vote in the European elections in Austria. In addition, those eligible to vote must turn 16 years old by election day at the latest and be registered in the voter register/European voter register of an Austrian municipality on the deadline date. The right to stand as a candidate in the European elections is available to all those people who are entitled to vote and have reached the age of 18 on election day.^[1]

The table shows the detailed composition of the Austrian seats at the European Parliament as of early 2024.

According to final numbers, 6,372,204 people were eligible to vote in the election, including 45,764 Austrian citizens with their main residence abroad and 45,161 EU citizens with their main residence in Austria.

Compared to the 2019 election, the total number of eligible voters decreased by 43,973, the number of Austrian citizens with their main residence abroad increased by 1,041 and the number of EU citizens with their main residence in Austria increased by 6,489.

The final number of eligible voters was published on 7 June 2024.^[4]

A total of 958,948 absentee ballots were issued in the run-up to the election, 913,856 of which were issued to eligible voters living in Austria and 45,092 to eligible voters living abroad. Compared to the 2019 election (686,249), a total of 39.74% more absentee ballots were issued. A total of 15.05% of eligible voters applied for an absentee ballot, a record for European elections in Austria (in 2019, this figure was 10.70%).^[5]

Projected turnout:

According to the OGM poll for the "Kurier" newspaper (May 7–8, 2024), a total of 66% of those surveyed said they are "certain" to vote. This would represent an increase of more than 6% compared to the 2019 election, which had 59.8% turnout. It would also be the highest turnout since the first EU parliament election in Austria in 1996, when turnout was 67.7%.

Other pollsters like the Lazarsfeld Society or Spectra are estimating turnout at between 52% to 63%.