2016 Austrian presidential election facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
2016 Austrian presidential election

← 2010 24 April 2016 (first round) 22 May 2016 (second round, annulled) 4 December 2016 (second round, re-run) 2022 →

Candidate Alexander Van der Bellen Norbert Hofer Party Independent (Greens) Freedom Party of Austria Home state Tyrol Burgenland States carried 6 3 Popular vote 2,472,892 2,124,661 Percentage 53.8% 46.2%

President before election Heinz Fischer Independent Elected President Alexander Van der Bellen Independent

This map shows the final results from the re-run election:      Alexander Van der Bellen (2,472,892 votes; 53.8%)      Norbert Hofer (2,124,661 votes; 46.2%)

In 2016, Austria held important elections to choose its new president. The first round of voting happened on April 24, 2016. Because no candidate won enough votes, a second round was held on May 22, 2016. However, the results of this second round were later cancelled. This meant people had to vote again on December 4, 2016.

The President of Austria is chosen by the people every six years. The election uses a special system called a two-round system. If no candidate gets more than half of the votes in the first round, the top two candidates go to a second vote. The person who wins the most votes in this second round becomes president. The president at the time, Heinz Fischer, had already served two terms. This meant he could not run for president again.

How the Election Results Unfolded

In the first round of the election, Norbert Hofer from the Freedom Party of Austria got the most votes. Alexander Van der Bellen, who ran as an independent candidate but was a member of the Austrian Greens, came in second. Since neither candidate won more than 50% of the votes, Hofer and Van der Bellen went on to the second round in May. This was a big moment because it was the first time since World War II that the final candidates were not from Austria's two main political parties. After all the votes, including postal ballots, were counted, Van der Bellen won the second round on May 23, 2016.

Why the Second Round Was Cancelled

On July 22, the results of the second round of voting were cancelled. This happened because some people challenged the results in 20 of Austria's 117 areas. The Constitutional Court of Austria looked into it. They found that in 14 of these areas, the rules for counting votes were not followed correctly. About 77,900 votes sent by mail were counted too early. The court said there was no sign that anyone cheated with the votes. But because the rules were broken, the election had to be done again.

The new vote for the second round was first planned for October 2. But it was moved to December 4, 2016. In this re-run election, Alexander Van der Bellen won with 53.8% of the votes. About 74.2% of people who could vote did vote. Norbert Hofer accepted his defeat shortly after the results were clear. Van der Bellen officially became the twelfth president of Austria on January 26, 2017.

Images for kids

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  Austrian People's Party

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  Freedom Party of Austria

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  This is an official ballot paper from the first round of voting.

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  The Constitutional Court held hearings about the election challenge from June 20-23.

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  Irmgard Griss, a former President of the Supreme Court, ran as an independent.

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  Richard Lugner, an entrepreneur, also ran as an independent.

See also

In Spanish: Elecciones presidenciales de Austria de 2016 para niños