European elections were held in Austria on 13 October 1996 to elect the 21 Austrian members of the European Parliament.

Quick Facts 21 seats to the European Parliament, Turnout ...

1996 European Parliament election in Austria

13 October 1996 1999 →
21 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	67.73%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ursula Stenzel Hannes Swoboda Franz Linser Party ÖVP SPÖ FPÖ Alliance EPP PES None Seats won 7 6 6 Popular vote 1,124,921 1,105,910 1,044,604 Percentage 29.65% 29.15% 27.53%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Johannes Voggenhuber Friedhelm Frischenschlager Party Greens LiF Alliance Green ALDE Seats won 1 1 Popular vote 258,250 161,583 Percentage 6.81% 4.26%

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In 1996, Austria was a country with a population of 7.9 million (5.8 million voters). The federal government was a "grand coalition" of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and the Christian Democratic Party (ÖVP) and was led by Chancellor Franz Vranitzky.

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At the last national election in 1995, the parties obtained the following results: SPÖ: 38.1%, ÖVP: 28.3%, FPÖ: 21.9%, Liberals: 5.5% and Greens: 4.8%.

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• PES Group (8): Albrecht Karl KONECNY, Elisabeth HLAVAC, Erhard MEIER, Erich FARTHOFER, Herbert BÖSCH, Hilde HAWLICEK*, Ilona GRAENITZ, Irene CREPAZ.
• EPP Group (6): Agnes SCHIERHUBER, Friedrich KÖNIG, Michael SPINDELEGGER, Milan LINZER, Paul RÜBIG, Reinhard RACK*.
• NI (FPÖ) (5): Erich SCHREINER, Franz LINSER*, Klaus LUKAS, Wolfgang JUNG, Wolfgang NUßBAUMER.
• ELDR Group (1): Martina GREDLER*
• Green Group (1): Johannes VOGGENHUBER*.

An asterisk (*) indicates Members standing for re-election.

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The electoral system used for the European elections was based on proportional representation, comparable to the system traditionally used in Austria for legislative elections.

The parties put forward lists of candidates. The seats are shared out on the basis of the percentage of the votes obtained by each list. Because of the limited number of seats, the lists were identical for the whole of Austria; there were no regional lists. The threshold required to win a seat was 4%. Candidates who win 7% of the total 'preference votes' obtained by their party would win one of the seats accorded to the party, irrespective of their position on the list. The lists of candidates had to be signed by three members of the national parliament, or by one Member of the European Parliament, or by 2600 voters. The minimum voting age was 18. European citizens residing in Austria were entitled to vote provided that they did not vote in their country of origin in the June 1994 European elections. 7205 European citizens registered and fulfilled that condition.

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The following political parties entered lists for the European elections on 13 October 1996: