General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20265 min read

Next Austrian legislative election

The next Austrian legislative election is the scheduled election to the National Council, Austria's principal legislative chamber, which must be held by 30 September 2029 at the latest under the five-year legislative period set in Article 27 of the Federal Constitutional Law (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz, B-VG).¹^•² The Inter-Parliamentary Union's Parline database lists 30 September 2029 as the expected date of the next elections.²

Key fact	Detail
Latest possible date	30 September 2029, five years after the constituent sitting of the current National Council on 24 October 2024¹^•²
Body elected	National Council (Nationalrat), 183 seats³
Electoral system	Proportional representation, closed lists with preferential votes, 4% nationwide threshold or a basic mandate in a regional constituency³
Eligible voters (2024 baseline)	6,346,059 registered; turnout 77.7%⁴
Voting age	16 for all elections, since the 2007 electoral reform¹
Governing parties at dissolution risk	ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS coalition took office on March 3, 2025⁵^•¹⁰

Timing rules

The legislative period of the National Council generally lasts five years, calculated from the day of its first meeting, so the chamber must be re-elected at least every five years; within 30 days of an election the Federal President must convene the new National Council.¹ The current (XXVIII) legislative period began with the constituent sitting on 24 October 2024, following the election of 29 September 2024.¹ The legislative period runs until the day the newly elected National Council convenes, both after the expiry of five years and in the event of early dissolution.¹

Early dissolution is possible. The National Council can dissolve itself before the end of the five-year term by a simple majority resolution; the Federal President can also dissolve it, though only once for the same reason and never yet in the Second Republic; and dissolution follows automatically if a referendum rejects the removal of the Federal President.¹ Of the 27 legislative periods to date, only five have run their full duration, and premature termination by simple federal law has been the most common form of ending a period.¹ An early dissolution before late 2029 would move the election date forward.

Electoral system

The 183 members of the National Council are elected through a party-list proportional representation system with preferential votes.³ To allocate seats, Austria is split into nine provincial constituencies matching the nine provinces, and these are subdivided into 39 regional constituencies; the final nationwide allocation applies the d'Hondt highest-average rule to each party's surplus votes.³ A party must obtain at least 4% of the valid votes cast nationwide to win seats, unless it wins at least one basic seat in a regional constituency.¹^•³

All Austrian citizens aged 16 or older on election day may vote, provided they have not been disqualified by a court conviction; Austria was the first country in Europe to introduce voting rights from age 16 for all elections, in June 2007.¹ Voters away from their registered polling station can obtain a voting card (Wahlkarte) allowing them to vote at any polling place in Austria or by postal ballot.³ Voters residing abroad may vote only by postal ballot, returning it by post or depositing it at an embassy or consulate at least six days before election day if in an EU country, or at least nine days elsewhere.⁶

Starting point: the 2024 election

The next election will be judged against the result of 29 September 2024, in which the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) finished first with 28.8% of valid votes and 57 of 183 seats, ahead of the People's Party (ÖVP) with 26.3% and 51 seats, the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) with 21.1% and 41 seats, NEOS with 9.1% and 18 seats, and the Greens with 8.2% and 16 seats.⁴ Turnout was 77.7% of the 6,346,059 registered voters, up from 75.6% in 2019.⁴^•⁷ Compared with 2019, the FPÖ gained 12.7 percentage points and 26 seats, while the ÖVP lost 11.2 points and 20 seats and the Greens lost 5.7 points and 10 seats.⁴

Government formation shaped the current term. Because no party won the 92 seats needed for a majority and the other parties refused to enter a coalition with the FPÖ, President Alexander Van der Bellen asked incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer on 22 October 2024 to form a government and begin talks with the third-placed Social Democrats.⁸ After coalition talks, a three-party government made up of the ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS took office on 3 March 2025; the only previous post-war instance of the party with the most votes being shut out of government had occurred after the 1999 election, when the ÖVP and FPÖ formed a government in 2000 that excluded the first-placed SPÖ.⁵^•¹⁰ The key electoral issues in 2024 included the cost of living, migration, and the war in Ukraine.²

What to watch

The 2024 result set a benchmark the next election will be measured against: the FPÖ's 28.8% was its best-ever result and the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria, yet it did not translate into government participation.⁴^•⁹ Whether the three-party ÖVP–SPÖ–NEOS coalition survives to the scheduled 2029 date, or the National Council dissolves early, will determine whether the election falls on the expected date or sooner.¹^•⁵

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Politics and government › Elections and representation › Elections and referendums › National and subnational elections outside the US and UK › European elections outside the UK › Central European elections (Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia)

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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