Attention EU citizens: Your voice counts in the Viennese election!

Attention EU citizens: Your voice counts in the Viennese election!

Wien, Österreich - The upcoming district representation elections in Vienna throw their shadows ahead. On April 27, 2025, not only over 1.1 million Austrian citizens, but also about 265,000 non-Austrian EU citizens are entitled to vote, which corresponds to a total of around 1.37 million eligible voters. This can be seen from information from oe24.at . The number of EU citizens entitled to vote corresponds to almost a fifth of the total number of voters. In order to support this target group, the “small Viennese election aid” was launched, which provides information about voting rights and participation.

The mayor Bettina Emmerling takes the opportunity to appeal to EU citizens to actively perceive their voting rights. Important topics for the upcoming elections include green spaces, schools and infrastructure. City Councilor Jürgen Czernohorszky also emphasizes that the turnout of EU citizens should be increased in order to represent their interests at the district level.

voters and requirements

The 265,000 EU citizens are allowed to take part in the election of the district representatives in Vienna, but not in the Vienna City Council election. The prerequisites for the vote include, among other things, that the main residence must be in Vienna since January 28, 2025. In addition, voters must be at least 16 years old on election day. wikipedia added that 50 signatures per district are necessary for the district election election if a party has no seat there.

The “Little Wiener Wahlhilfe” offers comprehensive information for EU citizens in a total of nine languages, including German and English as well as the languages ​​of the seven largest immigration groups from the EU: Germany, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Italy. The aim of this initiative is to motivate as many people as possible to participate in the election.

political developments and historical reviews

At the last district representation election on October 11, 2020, the SPÖ had changed political leadership in three districts. In Leopoldstadt, the SPÖ took over from the Greens, in Simmering from the FPÖ and in Josefstadt, the Greens took over from the ÖVP. Currently, SPÖ district leaders can be found in 17 of the 23 Vienna municipal districts, while the districts of Neubau, Josefstadt and Währing are managed by Greens and the inner city, Hietzing and Döbling, have a ÖVP district leader.

The choice of 2020 recorded a turnout of 57.73%, with a total of 786,777 votes being made. The results of this choice with the votes of the most important parties are summarized in the following table:

In addition to the political groups already mentioned, other parties have also announced their candidates, including KPÖ, HC, Söz, heart and many more. The upcoming elections are therefore characterized by a wide field of offers and a large number of citizens entitled to vote, which underlines the importance of "small Viennese election aid".

For further information on the election authorizations and the election process, interested parties can visit the official website of the Austrian government under Austria.gv.at .