From crisis governance to electoral normality and the longest coalition negotiations: the 2024 Austrian parliamentary election

The 2024 Austrian parliament election reflects both continuity and transformation within the political landscape of the country. Following a turbulent inter-election period marked by multiple crises, the campaign and its outcome echoed patterns from the 2017 election, with migration regaining prominence as a key voter priority and the populist radical right FPÖ reclaiming its voter base previously lost in the 2019 snap election. This time, however, the FPÖ emerged as the largest party for the first time, though it failed to translate this historic success into government participation. Following the longest and most complex government formation in Austrian history, the Christian democratic ÖVP, social democratic SPÖ, and liberal NEOS formed the nation's first three-party coalition since the immediate post-war period. Overall, the election showed the persistence of familiar political patterns, while also highlighting the growing difficulty of coalition building in an increasingly polarised party system.