The 2017 Austrian legislative election is scheduled to be held on Sunday Oct 15,2017 to elect 183 Members of National Council(Lower House of Parliament)
The election has arrived almost a year earlier than expected, following a breakdown of the country's grand coalition government in May 2017
The Social Democratic Party (SPO) and the conservative People's Party (OVP) agreed on early elections with all other parliamentary parties after months of inertia caused by policy disputes and internal wrangling in the OVP.
Sebastian Kurz, the OVP's leader since May 14 - two days after early elections were announced, has galvanised the party's electoral prospects by promising to revive Austria's political system, which is geared towards SPO and OVP coalition government.
The parties have governed Austria together for 44 of the last 72 years following the creation of a national unity government in 1945, a decade before Austria gained full independence from Germany
Who is expected to win?
Austria's OVP, led by Sebastian Kurz, is the clear favourite to receive the most votes on October 15. The party is projected to win up to 33 percent of the vote, according to opinion polls.
Christian Kern's left-leaning SPO are set to compete with Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO) for second place, with both predicted to win around 25 percent of the vote.
With no party expected to win a clear majority, the most likely outcome appears to be a coalition government led by the OVP with the support of the FPO.
Such an outcome would place the FPO, under the leadership of Heinz-Christian Strache, in government for the first time in more than a decade.
Their last period at the helm of Austrian politics, spanning from 2000-2007, prompted other members of the European Union to impose sanctions in an attempt to ostracise the country.
How does voting work?
Austria uses a proportional representation voting system to elect candidates to the country's 183 National Council seats.
A party must win at least four percent of the vote nationwide to win a seat in parliament, or at least one seat in one of Austria's 43 regional electoral districts.
Elections are held every five years, unless all parliamentary parties agree to a premature dissolution of parliament to hold an early vote.
Austrians aged 16 years and or older are permitted to vote, after the national voting age was lowered from 18 in 2007.
Separate elections for Austria's presidency are held every six years. The last presidential election took place on December 4, 2016, when Green Party politician Alexander Van Der Bellen held off a challenge from FPO candidate Norbert Hofer to win the vote.
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