New all-time high

National Council election: Almost one in five not entitled to vote

There are around 6.3 million eligible voters compared to almost 1.5 million residents of voting age who are unable to vote due to a lack of Austrian citizenship.(Bild: Brian Jackson)

When the National Council is re-elected on September 29 (see video above for the latest "Krone" survey), almost one in five people living in Austria will not be able to actively participate. This is a new high.

There are around 6.3 million eligible voters compared to almost 1.5 million residents of voting age who are unable to vote due to a lack of Austrian citizenship. This corresponds to 19 percent of the population aged 16 and over. 

Number of eligible voters is actually falling
In 2002, the proportion of non-eligible voters in the total population of voting age (then 18 years) was still nine percent, according to an APA analysis of data from Statistics Austria. At that time, 560,000 of the total 6.4 million inhabitants of voting age were not eligible to vote as of January 1. In the 22 years since then, the number of non-eligible voters has grown continuously and significantly faster than the number of eligible voters, which has actually fallen recently.

In the EU elections in June, the number of eligible voters was slightly higher, as EU citizens from other member states living in Austria were also allowed to vote. They could decide whether they wanted to elect the MEPs from their country of origin or those in Austria. 45,160 people made use of the opportunity to vote in Austria by registering in the European voter register in good time.