Legislative elections were held in Austria on 15 October 2017 to elect the 26th National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament. The snap election was called when the coalition government between the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) was dissolved in May by the latter party's new leader Sebastian Kurz.
The ÖVP took a strong lead in opinion polls after Kurz's confirmation as leader, and emerged as the largest party in the election, with 31.5% of votes cast and 62 of the 183 seats in the National Council. The SPÖ finished second with 52 seats, just ahead of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which received 51 seats. NEOS was fourth with 10 seats. The Greens failed to meet the 4% electoral threshold and were ejected from parliament for the first time since entering in 1986, losing all of their 24 seats. The Peter Pilz List, which had split from The Greens at the start of the campaign, won 4.4% and 8 seats.
Sebastian Kurz claimed victory on election night. Incumbent Chancellor and SPÖ leader Christian Kern announced that he was willing to consider a coalition with the FPÖ, though he said that the likelihood of such a coalition was very small. Kurz was formally invited to form a government on 20 October, and began coalition talks with FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache four days later. Negotiation teams on both sides were established to work on a coalition agreement. The talks proved to be successful and led to the formation of the first Kurz government on December 18.
Background
Conservative ÖVP party leader Reinhold Mitterlehner resigned on 10 May. On 14 May Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration Sebastian Kurz was unanimously elected new leader of the ÖVP by the federal party committee and called a snap election. Kurz announced the creation of an independent (but ÖVP-backed) list for the elections under the name "List Sebastian Kurz - The new People's Party", which would be open to non-ÖVP experts or otherwise-interested people.
Green Party leader Eva Glawischnig resigned from all her offices on 18 May, citing family and health-related reasons but also increasing political pressure over the last months following the expulsion of the Young Greens from the party, as well as the coming challenging election campaign. On 19 May, the Green Party committee unanimously elected current Tyrol state party head Ingrid Felipe as its new party leader. However, MEP Ulrike Lunacek was chosen as the party's candidate for the Chancellorship in the 2017 elections.
On 14 June, the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) announced that it would drop a 30-year ban on coalitions with the far-right FPÖ under certain conditions. The party's "values compass" included a set of requirements that any coalition partner had to fulfil, including having a pro-European policy, a commitment to a minimum wage of €1,500 a month, gender equality and upholding human rights.
On 27 June Team Stronach announced that they would not contest the elections after founder Frank Stronach decided to stop all financial contributions to the party and stated his intention to leave politics.
On 8 July independent 2016 presidential candidate Irmgard Griss joined an electoral alliance with NEOS. Although not a member of the party and despite not participating in their primaries, she was given second place on the NEOS list after party leader Matthias Strolz. This measure was approved by a wide margin among delegates at a party meeting in Vienna.
On 14 July, former FPÖ-leader in Salzburg Karl Schnell announced that he would run in the election with a list called "Freie Liste Österreich – Liste Dr. Karl Schnell (FLÖ)". Schnell already has the support of 3 MPs in parliament and won't need to submit 2600 signatures to be on the ballot.
On 17 July long-time Green Party MP and founding member Peter Pilz decided to leave the parliamentary club. On 25 June, a majority of Green Party delegates at a convention voted not to renew his spot on the party list for the election. Pilz has repeatedly stated interest for running his own list in the election. On 25 July, he presented his new list, Peter Pilz's List, during a press conference. Pilz already has the support of 4 MPs in parliament and won't need to submit 2600 signatures to be on the ballot.
On 14 August the SPÖ ended their co-operation with Israeli election adviser after he was arrested in Israel on suspicion of money-laundering and corruption. For several years, Silberstein worked as an opinion poll and campaign strategy consultant on behalf of the Social Democratic Party.