1999 Austrian legislative election

1999 Austrian legislative election

3 October 1999
All 183 seats in the National Council 92 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	80.42% ( 5.56pp)
First party Second party   Leader Viktor Klima Jörg Haider Party SPÖ FPÖ Last election 38.06%, 71 seats 21.89%, 41 seats Seats won 65 52 Seat change 6 11 Popular vote 1,532,448 1,244,087 Percentage 33.15% 26.91% Swing 4.91% 5.02%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Wolfgang Schüssel Alexander Van der Bellen Party ÖVP Greens Last election 28.29%, 52 seats 4.81%, 9 seats Seats won 52 14 Seat change 0 5 Popular vote 1,243,672 342,260 Percentage 26.91% 7.40% Swing 1.38% 2.59%
Chancellor before election Viktor Klima SPÖ Elected Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel ÖVP

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 3 October 1999. Although the Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the National Council, a right-wing coalition government was formed by the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) after several months of negotiations. Although the FPÖ had finished a fraction of a point ahead of the ÖVP in the popular vote, ÖVP leader Wolfgang Schüssel became Chancellor rather than controversial FPÖ leader Jörg Haider. Haider, who had also been elected Landeshauptmann of Carinthia, was not appointed to the cabinet and resigned as party leader.

However, foreign governments remained critical of the FPÖ's inclusion in the government and the fourteen other member countries of the European Union imposed sanctions on the country, whilst domestically the government faced protests organised by the SPÖ and Greens. However, this pressure on the government helped stabilise it and when it became clear that the FPÖ was not going to be excluded from government, sanctions were lifted.

Voter turnout was 80.4%.

Contesting parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 20th National Council.

Name			Ideology	Leader	1995 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	SPÖ	Social Democratic Party of Austria Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs	Social democracy	Viktor Klima	38.1%	71 / 183
	ÖVP	Austrian People's Party Österreichische Volkspartei	Christian democracy	Wolfgang Schüssel	28.3%	52 / 183
	FPÖ	Freedom Party of Austria Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs	Right-wing populism Euroscepticism	Jörg Haider	21.9%	41 / 183
	LiF	Liberal Forum Liberales Forum	Liberalism	Heide Schmidt	5.5%	10 / 183
	GRÜNE	The Greens Die Grünen	Green politics	Alexander Van der Bellen	4.8%	9 / 183

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party of Austria	1,532,448	33.15	65	–6
	Freedom Party of Austria	1,244,087	26.91	52	+11
	Austrian People's Party	1,243,672	26.91	52	0
	The Greens	342,260	7.40	14	+5
	Liberal Forum	168,612	3.65	0	–10
	The Independents	46,943	1.02	0	New
	Communist Party of Austria	22,016	0.48	0	0
	No to NATO and EU – Neutral Austria Citizens' Initiative	19,286	0.42	0	0
	Christian Voters Community	3,030	0.07	0	New
Total		4,622,354	100.00	183	0
Valid votes		4,622,354	98.45
Invalid/blank votes		72,871	1.55
Total votes		4,695,225	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		5,838,373	80.42
Source: Austrian Interior Ministry

Results by state

State	SPÖ	FPÖ	ÖVP	Grüne	LiF	Others
Burgenland	41.9	21.0	30.6	3.7	1.8	1.0
Carinthia	35.7	38.6	16.3	5.5	2.6	1.3
Lower Austria	33.8	22.5	32.9	6.0	2.9	1.9
Upper Austria	33.1	26.8	28.6	7.4	2.7	1.4
Salzburg	28.9	29.4	27.8	8.4	3.8	1.7
Styria	33.8	29.2	26.8	5.8	2.6	1.8
Tyrol	23.1	28.0	32.9	9.7	3.7	2.6
Vorarlberg	18.2	30.2	35.2	10.0	4.8	1.6
Vienna	37.9	24.8	17.0	10.3	7.0	3.0
Austria	33.2	26.9	26.9	7.4	3.6	2.0
Source: Austrian Interior Ministry