With the procedure provided for this and the associated deadlines, an election before June would be difficult. In addition to a new election resolution by the National Council, the election must be announced by regulation in the Federal Law Gazette. There must be 82 days between the fixed deadline in it and the election.

First and foremost, a resolution by the National Council with a simple majority is needed to dissolve it. The basis for this is a legislative initiative for a federal law that prematurely ends the legislative period. This must be certified by the Federal President, countersigned by the Federal Chancellor, and then published in the Federal Law Gazette. The entry into force of the federal law forms the basis for the announcement of new elections. Theoretically, the National Council can also be dissolved by the Federal President on the proposal of the government, which has never happened in the Second Republic.

From New Election Resolution to Election Around Three Months

Back to the further procedure: After the new election resolution, the election must be announced by the federal government by regulation in the Federal Law Gazette. This must include the election day, which is determined by the federal government in agreement with the main committee of the National Council. The regulation must also include the deadline, which must be on the eighty-second day before the election day. From this point, various deadlines begin to run, such as those for the appointment of district election managers, assessors, and the constitution of the election authorities. But also various prerequisites of electoral law, eligibility, or the collection of support declarations from smaller parties are determined from it. From the new election resolution to the election, it takes about three months.

The National Council will meet for its next planned session on February 26. Of course, a special session could be convened by 20 members of parliament or all members of a club, provided it does not have more than 20 members. In this case, the National Council must meet within eight working days. Theoretically, this would be possible before February 26.

New Election Proposal: Numerous Steps Required

In any case, the new election proposal must be submitted in a session and then assigned to the Constitutional Committee, dealt with there, and approved in the plenary. This can be done in two plenary days; if necessary, a committee decision could be bypassed with a deadline setting, and the proposal could be approved on the day of submission.

If the National Council has decided on its dissolution, the Council of Ministers must decide on the regulation with the election date and the key date 82 days before. This regulation must also include the request to the main committee to confirm the date - and the request to the Federal President to make it public by announcement in the Federal Law Gazette.

Assuming that the parliamentary procedure and the announcement take at least two to three weeks, a new election date before June is hardly possible. For an election on May 25, the key date would fall on March 4, which would be very ambitious according to the parliamentary timeline.

There would be a bit more leeway for election dates from June 1, according to the timeline, the key date for this would be March 11. A disadvantage would be that this Sunday falls on a long weekend, as Thursday, May 29, is Ascension Day. The same goes for the following weekend: Sunday, June 8, is Pentecost Sunday.

15th as the Most Attractive June Date

The most attractive election date in June appears to be Sunday, the 15th. This weekend is free of holidays. The key date for this option falls on March 25. The following weekend again follows the holiday Corpus Christi (June 19, 2025), and a week later the summer holidays begin in eastern Austria.

An election date after the summer holidays in autumn might therefore be more in the interest of the parties. Of course, the official business would probably have to be conducted by an expert government until then.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article .