According to the Austrian Constitution, the head of state – the Federal President – is endowed with rather limited, mostly representative powers.
The President of Austria is elected by popular vote for a six-year term for no more than two consecutive terms.
The Constitution enshrines the principle of the incompatibility of the office of Federal President with any other public office. The Federal President, during his term of office, may not be a member of any representative body or engage in any other professional activity.
Under the Presidential Elections Act, federal presidential elections are called by the federal government and are held on a Sunday or public holiday.
Austrian citizens who are 16 years of age at the time of the election are eligible to vote.
Persons entitled to vote must be entered in the electoral rolls which are drawn up before each election of a federal president.
An Austrian citizen who has reached the age of 35 on election day can be elected Federal President.
Candidates for the election of the Federal President must be submitted to the federal electoral body no later than 17.00 on the 37th day before the date of the election.
The proposal for nomination must be accompanied by statements of support from at least six thousand voters, signed by oneself. It is also necessary to pay an electoral deposit in the amount of 3.6 thousand euros.
The list of candidates for the Austrian presidential election must be published no later than 31 days before the date of the election.
For the conduct of elections, the federal territory is divided into nine land electoral districts, each land forming one such district. Each administrative region and each city with its own statute constitutes an electoral district (Stimmbezirk). In the city of Vienna, each municipal area is also an electoral area.
Two weeks before the election, each voter receives by mail “official information about the election” (Amtliche Wahlinformation), which, in addition to important information about the procedure for conducting elections, indicates the address of the polling station where he can leave his vote.
Those who cannot vote in their polling station can obtain an absentee ballot (you must apply in advance) and vote in any polling station in Austria or by mail.
You can vote by mail immediately after receiving an absentee ballot. To do this, the voter must put his/her own completed ballot paper into an envelope, seal it and place it, together with the absentee certificate, in an official postal envelope. Then he must write on a postal envelope with his own hand that he filled out the ballot personally, secretly and without influence, seal the envelope and mail it in a timely manner to the relevant precinct election commission in Austria or hand it in on election day at any polling station in Austria.
To vote, you must have an identity card (passport, driver’s license, student ID) with you. Anyone who wants to vote with an absentee ballot at a polling station must take it with them. At the polling station, each voter receives a ballot paper and a voting envelope. In the voting booth, the voter places the completed ballot paper in a voting envelope and seals it. The envelope is dropped into the ballot box.
At polling stations, voters are advised to follow the rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The ballot should be filled out with a personal ballpoint pen.
In the event that a voter cannot fill out a ballot paper without outside help, he may ask his companion to help him. Blind and visually impaired people can take a guide dog into the voting booth.
The elections of the Federal President are held according to the majoritarian electoral system of the absolute majority. The Federal Election Commission declares elected the candidate who receives more than half of all valid votes. If no candidate receives that many votes, then on the fifth Sunday after the first round of voting, a second round is held, where the two candidates who received a relative majority of the votes in the first round go. If the number of votes is the same, the participants in the second round are determined by lot. In the second round, the candidate with the most votes wins.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from Novosti and open sources