Because of polling cards

Election results will not be known until Thursday

More than 250,000 absentee ballots were applied for in Upper Austria.

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

More than 250,000 absentee ballots were requested for this election - which makes counting ever more complicated. Meanwhile, the province of Upper Austria is now also preparing for attacks on IT systems. One person in charge says: "We are prepared for anything." 

Upper Austria has not been spared either: as reported by the "Krone" newspaper, a Russian hacker collective has targeted the National Council elections. Attacks on the IT infrastructure of the state of Upper Austria were also recently registered. "We were able to register DDoS attacks on our infrastructure. Fortunately, we have also taken some precautions with the software in recent months so that our systems were not affected or impaired at any time," says Georg Fuchs, Head of the Information Technology Department of the Province of Upper Austria, giving the all-clear.

The first polling station opens at 6.45 am
Until yesterday evening, the parties were still out and about campaigning for the top candidates, for example. Today's election day officially starts in Schönau im Mühlkreis, where the first polling station opens at 6.45 am. Counting may only begin once the respective polling station has closed.

People who have applied for a polling card can also cast their vote at their own polling station on election day.

Landeswahlleiterin Magdalena Bigonski

Bild: Wenzel Markus/Markus Wenzel

According to provincial electoral officer Magdalena Bigonski, around ten people per municipality are on duty as election witnesses and helpers. The data collected is then entered into a system networked with the provincial electoral authority. When the first projection is made at 5 pm, however, the data does not come from the official electoral authorities, but from the election day survey. By the time the country has collected enough data to be able to present a provisional result, it will be 7 pm.

By then, however, the election will still not be over: it will take until the middle of the week for all absentee ballots - those posted in other federal states - to be counted. The final nationwide election results are expected on Thursday.