2013 Austrian legislative election

The government is a grand coalition between Austria's two largest parties, the SPÖ and ÖVP, who rule with the SPÖ's Werner Faymann as Chancellor. Support for both governing parties has fallen marginally since the 2008 election. The Freedom Party (FPÖ) and Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) made significant gains in the previous election, but while the FPÖ gained support after the 2008 election, the BZÖ shrank after the death of its founder Jörg Haider and taking a turn toward liberalism. Additionally, nine of the BZÖ's 21 elected members to the National Council changed their party affiliation during the term: five members joined the Team Stronach, while four joined the FPÖ. Team Stronach, funded by Austrian-Canadian businessman Frank Stronach, has emerged as an anti-euro alternative and eventually started to hurt the FPÖ's standing in the polls. The Greens have solidified their position as the fourth-largest party in opinion polls. == Contesting parties ==

The table below lists parties represented in the 24th National Council. Qualified parties In addition to the parties already represented in the National Council, nine parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. Four of these were cleared to be on the ballot in all states, five of them only in some. On the ballot in all 9 states • Team Stronach (FRANK) • NEOS • Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) • Pirate Party of Austria (PIRAT) On the ballot in some states only • Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ) - on the ballot only in Upper Austria, Styria, Vorarlberg and Burgenland • The Change (Der Wandel) - on the ballot only in Vienna and Upper Austria • Socialist Left Party (SLP) - on the ballot only in Vienna • EU Exit Party (EU-Austrittspartei) - on the ballot only in Vorarlberg • Men's Party of Austria (Männerpartei Österreichs) - on the ballot only in Vorarlberg == Campaign ==

Issues included corruption scandals across the main parties and Austria's relative financial stability facing a probable crisis. == Opinion polling ==

Recent opinion polls Older opinion polls ==Results==

Results by state Preference votes Alongside votes for a party, voters were able to cast a preferential votes for a candidate on the party list. The ten candidates with the most preferential votes on a federal level were as follows: ==Government formation==

The "grand coalition" of SPÖ and ÖVP retained their majority. While the SPÖ were keen to renew the coalition, the ÖVP also considered the possibility of a coalition with the FPÖ and another smaller party. On October 14, the SPÖ and the ÖVP agreed to start coalition talks with each other, and on December 16, the second Faymann cabinet was formed by the SPÖ and the ÖVP. ==See also==