Postal voting popular

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The very high number of polling cards requested also indicated a high level of interest in yesterday's ballot - many people saved themselves the trip to the ballot box.

(Bild: AP/Riccardo Bortolotti/LaPresse via AP)

According to the preliminary results, voter turnout in yesterday's EU election was 54.12%. Of the almost 6.4 million eligible voters, around 3.4 million cast their vote. 

This means that the willingness to vote would climb to a similar level as in the 2019 EU elections. Back then, the heated atmosphere after the Ibiza scandal came to light and the motion of no confidence against then Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) that was to be tabled the day after the election brought 59.77% of eligible voters to the polls, after voter turnout had always been below 50% since 1999.

Record number of polling cards requested
The very high number of polling cards requested also indicated a high level of interest in yesterday's ballot: around 15 percent of those eligible to vote, or 958,948 people, requested one, according to the Ministry of the Interior. This represents a record figure for EU elections - and by some distance: in 2019, the figure was 686,249 or around ten percent of those eligible to vote.

Compared to national elections, the turnout of 54.12% is still very low. Interest in EU elections is traditionally lower than in National Council elections. After the first European elections in 1996, in which 67.7% took part, voter turnout in subsequent ballots was always below 50% - until the last election in 2019.

Turnout reached its lowest point in 2004
Interest in EU elections reached its lowest point in 2004, when only 42.4% of those eligible to vote cast their ballot. In comparison, the previous negative record for voter turnout in National Council elections was 74.9% (2013).