Almost an Earthquake: The Austrian Parliamentary Election of 2013

The Austrian election held on 29 September 2013 resulted in all-time lows for both major traditional parties, the SPÖ and ÖVP, but they nevertheless secured their combined majority by a tiny margin. Whereas the populist radical right FPÖ was supported by every fifth voter, its split-off, the BZÖ, lost parliamentary representation. The Greens achieved moderate gains and two new parties entered parliament: the populist Team Stronach and the liberal NEOS (Kritzinger et al. 2014). These results and a record low in turnout constitute important changes in Austrian politics, though the 2013 election falls short of having been a real ‘earthquake election’. Several features of the party system, especially in terms of coalition building, remained the same.