The upper house, the Federal Council consists of delegates from the states and is not directly elected.
The election takes place under the two-round system to ensure that the president is supported by a majority of the voters.
However, if the OVP won the most votes, as it did on five occasions, it had the option of forming a coalition with the far right Freedom Party instead of the centre left SPO.
For a party to be represented in the National Council, it must either pass the threshold of at least 4% of all valid votes cast nationwide, or win one mandate (seat) in one of the regional electoral districts.
This preclusion period is shortened to one year for specific offenses (such as terrorism, voter fraud, and treason).
[4] The overall objective of Austria’s election system for parliament and other legislative bodies is to assure the proportional allocation of seats based on the share of the votes received by the political parties at the polls so that the composition of the legislative body will faithfully represent the preferences of the electorate.
The standard manner of expressing that choice is by placing an ‘x’ in the circle next to the name of the party on the paper ballot (Stimmzettel).
Voters have some ability to affect the fortunes of particular candidates on their favored party’s list by casting preference votes.
In order to win a basic mandate, the party must receive enough votes to meet or exceed the Wahlzahl in at least one regional district.
It is periodically readjusted based on the results of the most recent census to assure that each vote has the same weight regardless of where in the country it is cast.
This procedure prevents votes that were not applied to meeting the Wahlzahl, and did not, therefore, contribute to the allocation of a mandate, from being "lost" or "wasted" and not having an impact on the ultimate election outcome.
Instead, a party must at least win one basic mandate (Grundmandat) in one of the four regional electoral districts (Wahlkreise); it may then aggregate its remaining votes from all four districts and participate on the allocation of the remaining mandates (Restmandate) in the second stage of the votes-to-seats conversion process.
Each was then eligible to participate in the allocation of the remaining eight mandates (Restmandate), and each won one additional seat, while the remainder went to the larger parties.
As also illustrated, seemingly arcane details in the mechanics of how votes are counted and converted into seats can have important consequences.