29 percent for Kickl

Exciting until the end: Today it’s all about your vote!

(Bild: APA/Hans Klaus Techt)

The National Council elections on Sunday marked a turning point. According to the provisional overall results published by the Ministry of the Interior last night, the Freedom Party won 29.21% of the vote - a record increase of 13.04 percentage points. The ÖVP suffered a record loss (-10.98) and came second with 26.48 percent ahead of the SPÖ, which stagnated at 21.05 percent. With 8.96 percent, the NEOS overtook the Greens, who landed at 8.03 percent.

The minor parties all fell well short of the four percent threshold. The Beer Party achieved 1.99% in Sunday's results, the KPÖ 2.35%, the Madeleine Petrovic list 0.57% and the "None of them" list 0.56%.

The most important facts in brief:

• At municipal, district and state level, the National Council election has produced a blue-turquoise patchwork - you can see all the results in detail here.
• In an initial statement, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen emphasizes that it is now a matter of "approaching each other". It is not set in stone that the first-placed FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl will form the government.
• Chancellor Karl Nehammer maintains in the "Krone" interview that it is not possible to form a coalition with a conspiracy theorist.
• In the coming weeks, some heads will roll, predicts the managing editor-in-chief of the "Krone", Klaus Herrmann, in his current commentary.

• Voter turnout in Sunday's National Council election was certainly up on the 2019 ballot. According to the projections including the polling card forecast, 78% of those eligible to vote went to the polls. In 2019, the voter turnout was 75.59%.

What a future government might look like is still up in the air. Nobody wanted to form a coalition with FPÖ leader Kickl during the election campaign, and it remains to be seen whether the ÖVP and SPÖ could secure their extremely shaky majority with a third partner.

Van der Bellen waits for talks
On the evening of the election, Federal President Van der Bellen did not reveal who he might ultimately choose to form a government. He said he would now wait and see which partnerships could emerge in the numerous talks over the coming days, but insisted on a few basic pillars: The rule of law, separation of powers, minority rights, independent media and EU membership must also be beyond dispute in a future government, the head of state said.

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