Austrian legislative election, 2006

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The 2006 general election for the National Council in Austria was held on 1 October 2006.

[edit] Summary of results

Following the Austrian legislative election, 1999, the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) had formed a coalition government with the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), and later the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ). As a result of the 2006 election, the ÖVP-BZÖ coalition lost their majority in parliament; pundits expect that the next government will be an SPÖ-ÖVP coalition- the numbers permit no other two party coalition, and there has been no three party coalition since 1950. However talks between the SPÖ and ÖVP have as of yet (November 2006) not resulted in the formation of a new government. There are also talks that SPÖ might form a minority government, which likely would result in new elections being called in the near future.[1][2]

• The ÖVP lost many of the votes they had taken from the FPÖ in the 2002 election.

• The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) lost fewer votes and thus regained a plurality.

• The Austrian Green Party received more than 11% of the votes and pulled ahead of the Freedom Party.

• The FPÖ increased their share of votes slightly but missed third place by about 500 votes.

• The BZÖ, which had split off from the FPÖ in 2005, crossed the threshold of 4% and will be represented in the new parliament.

• The Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) increased its share of votes to 1%.

• The list of Hans Peter Martin received 2.8%. Both his list and the KPÖ are below the 4% threshold that is necessary for parliamentary representation.

• The Liberal Forum decided not to stand in the election, citing the tight schedule as well as the lack of finances and a suitable party leader. However, on 3 September 2006 the SPÖ announced an electoral alliance with the LIF (some of the LIF's candidates will stand on the SPÖ's party list, ensuring that at least the LIF's chairman Alexander Zach will be a member of the next parliament).

[edit] Parties

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 1 October 2006 National Council of Austria election results

Parties		Votes	+/-	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs)	1,663,986	-128,513	35.34	-1.17	68 (67)	-1
	Austrian People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei)	1,616,493	-460,340	34.33	-7.97	66	-13
	Greens — Green Alternative (Die Grünen — Die Grüne Alternative)	520,130	+55,150	11.05	+1.58	21	+4
	Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs)	519,598	+28,270	11.04	+1.03	21	+3
	Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich)	193,539	*	4.11	*	7	+7
	Liberal Forum (Liberales Forum) [1]	—	—	—	—	— (1)	—
	Dr. Martin's List — For Democracy, Control, Justice (Liste Dr. Martin — Für Demokratie, Kontrolle, Gerechtigkeit)	131,688	*	2.80	*	—	*
	Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Österreichs)	47,578	+20,010	1.01	+0.45	—	±0
	EU Withdrawal — Neutral Free Austria (EU–Austritt — Neutrales Freies Österreich) [2]	10,594	*	0.23	*	—	*
	Socialist Left Party (Sozialistische LinksPartei) [3]	2,257	-1,649	0.05	-0.03	—	±0
	Safe — Absolute — Independent, Franz Radinger (Sicher — Absolut — Unabhängig, Franz Radinger) [4]	1,514	*	0.03	*	—	*
	Initiativ€2000 (Initiativ€2000) [5]	592	*	0.01	*	—	*
	Stark's List (Liste Stark) [4]	312	*	0.01	*	—	*
	Total (turnout: 78.48%; -5.8)	4,708,281		100.0		183
Notes: *       Did not stand in 2002. ^ Did not stand as an independent party in the election, representatives elected on the Social Democratic Party's list. Effectively, one of the Social Democratic Party's 68 seats is a representative of the Liberal Forum. ^ Stood only in Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, Vienna and Vorarlberg. ^ Stood only in Vienna. ^ a b Stood only in Carinthia. ^ Stood only in Burgenland.
Source: Siemens Austria, BMI

[edit] Opinion Polls

Source	Date	ÖVP	SPÖ	FPÖ	Greens	BZÖ	H.-P. Martin
NEWS-Market	27 September 2006	38%	35%	10%	10%	3%	3%
Profil-OGM	23 September 2006	37%	35%	10%	11%	3%	3%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	22 September 2006	38%	35%	10%	10%	3%	4%
NEWS-Market	20 September 2006	39%	34%	9%	11%	3%	3%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	19 September 2006	38%	35%	10%	11%	3%	3%
Profil-OGM	16 September 2006	38%	35%	10%	10%	3%	3%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	12 September 2006	39%	35%	8%	10%	3%	4%
IGF	11 September 2006	39%	34%	8%	11%	3%	4%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	9 September 2006	38%	35%	7%	12%	3%	4%
Profil-OGM	9 September 2006	38%	35%	9%	10%	2%	5%
NEWS/Market	7 September 2006	38%	34%	8%	11%	3%	5%
Kurier/Integral	3 September 2006	37%	35%	8%	11%	4%	5%
ÖSTERREICH-Gallup	31 August 2006	37%	35%	7%	11%	4%	4%
NEWS-Market	30 August 2006	39%	35%	7%	11%	3%	4%
Profil-OGM	26 August 2006	39%	35%	7%	11%	3%	4%
NEWS/Market	23 August 2006	38%	36%	7%	10%	4%	4%
NEWS/Market	16 August 2006	40%	34%	7%	11%	3%	4%
NEWS/Market	2 August 2006	39%	35%	6%	11%	3%	5%
Kurier/Integral	16 July 2006	39%	35%	8%	12%	4%	—
Profil/OGM	15 July 2006	40%	36%	8%	12%	3%	—
NEWS/Market	12 July 2006	41%	36%	5%	11%	3%	3%

Federal Elections in Austria

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