Upward trend 2024

How the NEOS have developed since 2013

From left: Niko Swatek with NEOS party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Christian Jauschowetz)

The NEOS, who pulled out of the coalition negotiations with the ÖVP and SPÖ on Friday, have seen a modest upward trend in recent years. They achieved their best nationwide result in the EU elections in June 2024 with 10.14%.

The top candidate was Helmut Brandstätter. The National Council election in September 2024 also brought a new record in elections to the House of Representatives with 9.1% and fourth place ahead of the Greens. However, it was not enough for the government in the negotiations.

Most recently, the NEOS were the only party to make gains in the Styrian state elections on November 24, alongside the massive gains made by the Blue Party. There was also a small gain of 0.42 percentage points in the state election in Vorarlberg.

Failures in Carinthia and Salzburg
While the results in the regional elections in Upper Austria, Tyrol and Lower Austria in 2021, 2022 and 2023 only ever produced a small gain, the party failed to reach the five-percent hurdle required to enter parliament in the regional elections in Carinthia. Things got even worse in the following Salzburg election in April 2023, when the Pinks were kicked out of the state government and parliament with a loss of 3.07 percentage points.

The municipal elections in the city of Salzburg and Innsbruck this year brought similar disappointments.

As reported, the NEOS broke off negotiations on the "Zuckerl" coalition on Friday. One of the arguments put forward was the lack of reforms, for example in the financing of the healthcare and pension systems. Austria's government would have to make savings, they said. The parties would have to think beyond the next election day.