The Greens Die Grünen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | GRÜNE |
| Spokeswoman | Leonore Gewessler |
| Managing director | Angela Stoytchev |
| Leader in theEP | Lena Schilling |
| Founded | 1993 (Die Grünen) 1986 (Merger ofVereinte Grüne Österreichs andAlternative Liste Österreich) |
| Headquarters | Lindengasse 40 A-1070Vienna |
| Youth wing | Young Greens (2010–2017) |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left[6] toleft-wing[7] |
| European affiliation | European Green Party |
| European Parliament group | Greens–European Free Alliance |
| International affiliation | Global Greens |
| Colours | Green |
| National Council | 16 / 183 |
| Federal Council | 5 / 60 |
| Governorships | 0 / 9 |
| Landtag Seats | 42 / 440 |
| European Parliament | 2 / 20 |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| gruene.at | |
The Greens – The Green Alternative (German:Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative,pronounced[diːˈɡʁyːnəndiːˈɡʁyːnəˌaltɛʁnaˈtiːvə]) is agreenpolitical party inAustria.[1][8] The Greens currently sit in opposition. Formerly, they were part of theSchallenberg government, theSecond Kurz government, and theNehammer government.[9][10][11][12] It won 8.2% of votes cast in the2024 Austrian legislative election. The currentPresident of Austria,Alexander Van der Bellen, is from the Green Party.[13][14][15]
The party was founded in 1986 under the name "Green Alternative" (Grüne Alternative), following the merger of the more moderate Green partyVereinte Grüne Österreichs (United Greens of Austria VGÖ, founded 1982), which had its roots in the anti-nuclear power movement and the more progressive partyAlternative Liste Österreichs (Alternative List Austria, ALÖ, founded 1982) formed by ecology, feminist, peace, Third World and student activists.[16] Since 1993, the party has carried the official nameDie Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative (Grüne), but refers to itself in English as "Austrian Greens". There are still differences between the former members of the old Alternative and VGÖ factions within the party, reflected in the differing approaches of the national and state parties.
Apart fromecological issues such asenvironmental protection, the Greens arePro-European[17] and campaign for the rights ofminorities and advocate a socio-ecological (ökosozial)tax reform. Their basic values according to their charter in 2001 are: "direct democracy,nonviolence,ecology,solidarity,feminism andself-determination".[2] The party is a member of theEuropean Green Party andGlobal Greens.
In 1978 the AustrianGreen movement began with thesuccessful campaign to prevent the opening of theZwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant (which had been favoured byBruno Kreisky's government). Another major event in the Austrian environmental movement were thesit-in protests in 1984 which prevented theDanube power plant atHainburg from being built.[18]
The VGÖ and ALÖ contested the1983 Austrian legislative election, scoring 1.9 and 1.4 percent of the vote each but failing to win any seats. Following this the two parties agreed joint lists for state elections in Salzburg, Tyrol, Voralberg and Styria, although other environmentalist lists also contested elections during this time. The joint lists enjoyed success in Voralberg, achieving 13 percent and four seats in 1984, and Styria, where they won 3.7 percent of the vote and two seats. The immediate catalyst for the merger of the two parties was the candidacy of activistFreda Meissner-Blau in the1986 Austrian presidential election, in which she won 5.5 percent of the vote. A few months after the election members of the VGÖ and ALÖ, along with journalist, environmentalist and former Socialist Party memberGünther Nenning's Citizens' Parliamentary Initiative and other groups to form Green Alternative.[16]
In its early years the party described itself as an alliance of moderate ecologists, former members of the Socialist Party's left unhappy with the leadership of the moderateFranz Vranitzky, peace activists,Eurocommunists, anti-nuclear activists andChristian leftists.[19]
In the1986 parliamentary elections the Green Party started off with 4.82% of all votes cast and entered parliament with eightNational Council mandates. In the early elections to National Council in2002, the Green Party nationwide received 9.47% of votes, and won 17 mandates to the National Council. At that time, it was the highest number of votes garnered by any European Green party.
When the Greens took their seats in parliament for the first time, they chose to appear somewhat unconventional. They initially refused to adapt their behaviour to that of the other parties; an example of this is their refusal to elect a chairperson (Klubobmann/Klubobfrau) and designated a puppet made out of straw instead. Delegates would appear in parliament dressed in casual wear such as jeans and trainers. Worldwide attention was drawn when the Green delegate Andreas Wabl hoisted aswastika flag on the speakers podium in the Austrian parliament, protesting against thenFederal PresidentKurt Waldheim.[20] They were also highly active in parliament, proposing 60 pieces of legislation and asking over 400 written questions within 18 months of the Greens' entry to the National Council, more than any other party.[21]
After the national election in2002, the Greens entered into preliminary negotiations about a possible coalition government with the conservative ÖVP. During negotiations, party leadership was accused of internally black-mailing skeptical members. Negotiations between the two parties were subsequently called off, after the results with the ÖVP were not sufficient. The Green youth organisationGrünalternative Jugend (Green Alternative Youth or GAJ) briefly occupied the rooms of the Green parliamentary club in the Austrian parliament building in protest.
In 2003 three Green federal counsellors formed their own club in the Upper HouseFederal Council (Bundesrat) of Parliament.
After the 2006 elections the Greens gained four seats and ended up with 21 seats and became the third largest party in Parliament, however did not have enough mandates to form a coalition government with either theAustrian People's Party (ÖVP) orSocial Democratic Party (SPÖ) and became the largest opposition party, while the SPÖ and ÖVP formed agrand coalition government.
The party suffered from internal struggles in 2017, losing its Youth wing (which split away and formed an ephemeraljoint list with theCommunist Party of Austria) and later experiencing a split ofPeter Pilz's faction, forming thePeter Pilz List.
The2017 legislative election saw a collapse for the party, scoring only 3.8% and losing its representation in the Nationalrat for the first time since 1986. Following the results, party spokesmanIngrid Felipe resigned from her post and was replaced byWerner Kogler.
The party saw a revival in the2019 European election, in which they scored 14.1% and elected 2 MEPs. The election saw the collapse of JETZ.
The party eventually later this year, experienced a strong recovery and performed better well leading up to the2019 snap legislative election, the Greens returned to theNational Council (German:Nationalrat) with their best ever result in a legislative election, scoring 13.9% and electing 26 MPs, an upswing of 10.2% from 2017.
In the2024 Austrian legislative election, the party lost 10 seats and fell to 8.2%. The party was not included in the initial coalition negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS.
The chart below shows a timeline of the Green chairpersons and theChancellors of Austria. The left green bar shows all the chairpersons (Bundessprecher, abbreviated as "Chair.") of the Green party, and the right bar shows the corresponding make-up of the Austrian government at that time. The red (SPÖ), black (ÖVP), and light grey (Independent) colours correspond to which party led the federal government (Bundesregierung, abbreviated as "Govern."). The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, the Roman numeral stands for thecabinets.
The Green party also entered the parliaments or assemblies (Landtag) ofAustrian federal states and communal governments. Following is an analysis of the party on thefederal state (Länder) level:
Green Alternative first stood in state elections in Burgenland in 1987, taking 2.2 percent of the vote but no seat.[19] The Greens first entered the Burgenland state parliament in 2000, receiving 5.49% of the vote and winning two seats.[22]
In the2025 Burgenland state election, the party won 5.66% of the vote and held on to their two seats.[23] After swift negotiations, the Greens entered a governing coalition with the Social Democrats, making Burgenland the only Austrian federal state to be governed by the Greens.[24]
In the southernmost federal stateCarinthia, different Green parties ran state elections: theKEL/AL in 1984,Anderes Kärnten in 1989 and 1994, andDemokratie 99 in 1999. These parties were, however, never able to enter the federal state assembly, since the Carinthian voting system requires a party to win a direct mandate in one of the four regional election districts, which effectively means a 10%-threshold in order to enter.
Only in 2004 were the Carinthian Greens finally able to take their seats in the federal state assembly, where they are represented bycabaret artistRolf Holub andBarbara Lesjak. On a regional level, for example in the federal state capitalKlagenfurt, the Carinthian Greens have already played a political role for a longer time. In the Klagenfurtcity council, the Greens are represented byAndrea Wulz, Matthias Koechl,Angelika Hoedl andReinhold Gasper. Since the local election in 2003, the Klagenfurt Greens were able to take one of nine seats in the proportional city-government, Andrea Wulz is the town councillor for issues relating to women, family matters and socialhousing projects.
In 1998 theLower Austrian Greens were represented with two delegates in the federal state assembly. In the federal state elections in 2003 the Greens received 7.22% and thus won four mandates, which enabled them to form a parliamentary group - calledclub in Austrian politics - in the assembly. WithMadeleine Petrovic, the Lower Austrian Greens have a former federal spokeswoman and one of the most outspoken animal activists of Austria as their leader (Klubobfrau). In 2005 the Lower Austrian Greens managed to win and take their seats in 100 municipal assemblies and as of 2005 had four vice-mayors. Their managing director in Lower Austria is Thomas Huber.
After the federal state elections in 1989 theSalzburg State Greens had two mandates in the Salzburg federal state assembly, in 1994 three and in 1999 again two. Under the leadership ofCyriak Schwaighofer the Greens performed under their expectations in the 2004 federal state elections and could not achieve the desired club status of at least three mandates. As voter-current analyses showed, the small increases in votes were largely due to former voters of theLiberal Forum (LiF), which did not run in the Salzburg elections. In March 2009 they were down from 8% to 7.3%, keeping their two seats inSalzburg State's parliament.
The Bürgerliste (Citizen List) is the common platform of the Greens inSalzburg municipality. The List entered the city council in the 1987 election, taking 10.1 percent of the vote and four seats.[19] Like many other autonomous municipal groups it carries its own name.
TheStyrian Greens have three delegates sitting in the federal state assembly, federal state spokesperson Lambert Schönleitner, Sandra Krautwaschl, and Lara Köck. There are two independent Greens parties: on the one hand the federal state party, on the other hand there is theDie Grünen - Alternative Liste Graz party for the federal state capitalGraz. In the Graz city-council the Greens are represented by Sigi Binder, Lisa Rücker, Hermann Candussi and Christina Jahn.
Styria has the largest Austrian Green youth organization in Austria, calledGrüne Jugend Steiermark (Green Youth Styria). Beside the Green Youth Styria there also exists Austria's first Green students' organization, theECO Students.
InTyrol the Greens (official name:Die Grünen – die Grüne Alternative Tirol) were able to win seats and placed in 1994Eva Lichtenberger as Austria's first Green statecouncillor in a local government, responsible for environmental affairs.
The 2003 TyroleanLandtag (state assembly) elections were the best ever for the Austrian Greens, winning 15.59% of all votes cast. In the capital city ofInnsbruck the Greens reached approximately 27% of the vote. The Tyrolean election result also meant that the Greens could for the first time in history nominate a member to the Upper House of Parliament. Since 2003 the Green delegate to theFederal Council (Bundesrat) of Parliament isEva Konrad, former chairlady of the Austrian National Union of Students (Österreichische HochschülerInnenschaft) of theUniversity of Innsbruck.
The communal elections of 2004 brought a doubling of the mandates for the Tyrolean Greens. City elections inInnsbruck in 2006 were a success for the Greens and they gained 8 of the 40 seats in the parliament ofInnsbruck.
In the elections to the European parliament the Tyrolean Greens obtained 17.32%, their best result until then. Eva Lichtenberger subsequently changed her position to become aMember of the European Parliament (MEP). The results in Innsbruck were particularly good: there the Green party received 28.28%, which made it the strongest party, even before the Christian-democratic ÖVP and the social-democratic SPÖ. The Greens were able to score on a number of issues that they have been fighting for years. Besides the social topics above all the problems of transit traffic over theAlps was important.
The Tyrolean Greens have experts on traffic issues with MEP Eva Lichtenberger, the national speaker and club chairpersonGeorg Willi and the speaker of group of regional of Innsbruck Gerhard Fritz. The issue of transit traffic through the Tyrol is of great importance, because the state is troubled by the massive transit traffic between Germany and Italy over theBrenner Pass. Since the Tyrol sits right in between Germany and Italy, the bulk of the commercial traffic passes through there. This heavy-duty traffic has devastating effects on the fragile alpine environment and decreases the quality of life for the inhabitants. Since the entry to the European Union, Austria had to give up any quota limitations on how much international traffic coming from EU-countries is allowed to pass through its territory.
The Tyrolean Greens accused the federal government of not having pushed for a better deal with the European Union concerning transit-traffic and in effect abandoning the concerns of the citizens. They also heavily criticised the government's failure to negotiate a follow-up of the 1994 transit-treaty signed with the EU. Apart from the Greens, various anti-transitcivic movements have formed to protest against the environmental damages caused by the traffic.
Sitting in the National Council isKurt Grünewald, a Tyrolean member of parliament, as well as the former leader of the GreensAlexander Van der Bellen, who has Tyrolean roots (he spent a part of his youth there and went to high school in Innsbruck).
The results of the TyroleanLandtag elections:
| Results of the Greens in Tyrolean State Assembly elections | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Percentage of votes received | Mandates out of total of 36 seats |
| 2003 | 15.59% (+7.57) | 5 (+2) |
| 1999 | 8.02% (–2.66) | 3 (–1) |
| 1994 | 10.68% (+2.42) | 4 (+1) |
| 1989 | 8.26% (+5.34) | 3 (+3) |
| 1984 | 2.92% | 0 |
2003 delegates:Sepp Brugger, Maria Scheiber,Uschi Schwarzl, Elisabeth Wiesmüller und Georg Willi (club chairman);
1999 delegates:Maria Scheiber,Elisabeth Wiesmüller, Georg Willi (club chairman);
1994 delegates:Bernhard Ernst, Franz Klug, Max Schneider und Georg Willi (club chairman [Klubobmann]);
1989 delegates: Eva Lichtenberger,Jutta Seethaler,Franz Klug.
In 1997 theUpper Austrian Greens successfully entered the Upper AustrianLandtag (state assembly) for the first time. After the state elections in 2003 (state elections in Upper Austria are held every six years, not five like in the other states), the Greens were able to win even more seats. The campaign was already aimed at gaining ministerial seats in the state government. Since the conservative Christian-democratic ÖVP was the strongest party, this would have meant for the Greens to enter into a coalition government with them (the so-called "Schwarz-Grün" [Black-Green] coalition, named after the party-colours). This new political constellation was quite controversial amongst party members on both sides. In the Green party, the leaderRudi Anschober was able to convince party members and after some dealing became state councillor for environmental affairs. The Greens of the state capital ofLinz under the leadership of city councillorJürgen Himmelbauer were most against this black-green project.
On the national level, the Upper Austrian Greens were able to nominate and send to the parliamentary Upper HouseFederal Council (Bundesrat) councillorRuperta Lichtenecker.
TheVorarlberg Greens were the first to ever win mandates in an Austrian state assembly election. Already in 1984 they were able to win 13% of the votes in the Vorarlberg state assembly elections, which for that time was an absolute sensation. The charismatic alpine farmerKaspanaze Simma fromBregenzerwald was the leading candidate, it was mainly due to his efforts why the party was so instantly successful. Because of their strength, the Greens were allowed to form their own parliamentary fraction (Klub), which caused some logistical problems as the newly constructedLandtag building in 1981 only provided space for the traditional three parties (ÖVP, SPÖ, FPÖ), not four. Since the traditionalorganic farming sector is important in the western Austrian regions, the Greens were able to gain support.
In the following years the Greens were able to consolidate their position by gaining seats on the communal and municipal level. Occasionally they lost their official club status in the state assembly, when they fared poorly from 1999 to 2004. In 2006 the speaker of the Vorarlberg Greens wasJohannes Rauch.
The results of the VorarlbergLandtag elections:
| Results of the Greens in the Vorarlberg State Assembly elections | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Percentage of votes received | Mandates out of total of 36 seats |
| 2004 | 10,2% (+4.17) | 4 (+2) |
| 1999 | 6,03% (–1.73) | 2 (–1) |
| 1994 | 7,76% (+2.58) | 3 (+1) |
| 1989 | 5,18% (–7.82) | 2 (–2) |
| 19841 | 13,00% | 4 |
1 Combined result of ALÖ and VGÖ
TheViennese Greens started nominating candidates in the ViennaGemeinderat (municipal council or state assembly) in 1983. In 1987 they scored 4.4 percent of the vote in Vienna's state elections, failing to win any seats, but they did take 55 out of 1,082 in the city's district council elections.[19] They were able to enter the state assembly in 1991. Over the years they have been able to continually gather support. A lot of support has been coming from formerLiberal Forum voters, after the liberals failed to enter any legislature. The traditional strongholds in Vienna for the Greens are the districts ofNeubau (2005: 43.26%),Josefstadt (32.26%),Alsergrund (29.43%),Mariahilf (28.97%) andWieden (25.14%).
In the 2001Gemeinderat elections, the Greens were able to win the majority of a district for the first time. In the district ofNeubau they won 32.55% and were able to nominate theBezirksvorsteher (mayor of the district). The results of 2001 also allowed the Viennese Greens to nominateStefan Schennach as federal councilor to the Upper House of Parliament (Bundesrat). But despite the strong gains, the Greens were not able to enter into a coalition government with the SPÖ, since the social-democrats were able to win an absolute majority.
The2004 European Parliament election were the best for the Viennese Greens so far. From the total tally, they received 22%, which put them ahead of the Christian-democratic ÖVP and placed them on second position behind the SPÖ (37.7%). In Neubau the Greens received 41%. They were also able to win first place in the districts of Wieden, Mariahilf, Josefstadt and Alsergrund.
In the 2005Gemeinderat elections, the Greens were able to win votes, but missed their target of becoming the second most powerful party and ended up on fourth place, right behind the right-wingFreedom Party (FPÖ). Because of the different weighing by districts, the Greens received 14 mandates, one more than the FPÖ. They were also able to place another city-councillor. In the districts, the party was able to consolidate their holding on Neubau, as well as win the majority of votes in Josefstadt. With that, the Greens were able to nominate a second Green district-mayor. The second place was won in the districts ofLeopoldstadt,Margareten, Mariahilf,Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus andAlsergrund.
The Green delegates to the VienneseGemeinderat orLandtag as of 2006 were:Maria Vassilakou (club-chairlady [Klubobfrau]),Waltraut Antonov,Heidi Cammerlander,Christoph Chorherr,Sabine Gretner,Susanne Jerusalem,Alev Korun,Rüdiger Maresch,Martin Margulies,Sigrid Pilz,Ingrid Puller,Marie Ringler,Marco Schreuder,Claudia Sommer-Smolik. The two city-councillors areDavid Ellensohn andMonika Vana.
The2010 results meant that the SPÖ was unable to hold the majority of seats in the Vienna city council and therefore had to rule together with the Greens performing for the first time as coalition partner. The current vice-governor/vice-mayor of Vienna as of 26 June 2019 isBirgit Hebein.[25]
The results of the VienneseGemeinderat elections:
| Results of the Greens in the Viennese State Assembly elections | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Percentage of votes received | Mandates out of total of 100 seats | Further information | |
| 2010 | 12,64% (–1.99) | 11 (–3) | 1Federal Councillor, 1 City Councillor | |
| 2005 | 14,63% (+2.18) | 14 (+3) | 1Federal Councillor, 2 City Councillors | |
| 2001 | 12,45% (+4.51) | 11 (+4) | 1 Federal Councillor, 1 City Councillor | |
| 1996 | 7,94% (–1.14) | 7 (±0) | 1 City Councillor | |
| 1991 | 9,08% (+4.68) | 7 (+7) | 1 City Councillor | |
| 1987 | 4,4% (+1.9) | 0 | ||
| 19831 | 2,5% (+2.5) | 0 | ||
1 ran asAlternative Liste Wien (ALW)
In 2004 the Greens had about 3,000 members nationwide, although at present there are no uniform regulations for membership. Apart from the members, the Greens rely on a large number of volunteers. The party used to function on the principles ofgrassroots democracy (Basisdemokratie) androtation principle (Rotationsprinzip), but this was stopped in the course of the time. The last basic-democratic element is theUrabstimmung, which is a vote on any issue that can be initiated with the petition of at least 100 members. As of 2003 however, no such vote has taken place.
The highest body is theFederal Congress (Bundeskongress), which convenes at least once a year. All federal state organisations send delegates, also the immigrants-organisation is allowed to send delegates as "the tenthAustrian state". The Federal Congress decides the electoral lists for theNational Council elections and elections to theEuropean parliament. The congress also elects the federal spokesperson (BundesprecherIn). The congress also decides the party program and sets the party guidelines.
In the last few years, thefederal executive (Bundesvorstand) has developed into the actual decision-making centre. It meets at least once a week, mostly on Tuesdays, and determines the guidelines of daily politics. The federal executive also decides on party finances.Theextended federal executive (Erweiterter Bundesvorstand) consists of a smaller number of delegates from each state and meets at least once a month. It takes care of the implementation of the party-guidelines, which were set by the party congress. It also chooses the representatives of the party spokesperson.
The highest office in the party is that of thefederal spokesperson (Bundessprecher). The party's federal spokesman isWerner Kogler.
The federal state organisations (Landesorganisationen) are organised similarly: There are federal state meetings, which sometimes convene as a members meeting or a delegates meeting. Similar to the federal executive, there are federal state executives (Landesvorstände). The party charter also allows for each federal state group to hold a vote on basic issues as well that affect the whole party.
Independently in theNational Council there also exists a Green National Council Club (faction), which can independently specify its guidelines. In recent years however an increasing fusion of the work between party and its club was noticeable.Michaela Sburny, successor ofFranz Raft since June 2004 as the Greens' federal chairperson, was allowed to keep her National Council mandate. This means she is allowed to hold two offices at the same time, something that was frowned upon by the Greens previously.
There are different Green or Greenish organisations within the party and associated with it. These include:
The education and training of new Green politicians is done by theGrüne Bildungswerkstatt, which is an independentvoluntary association. TheGrüne Bildungswerkstatt is financed by the republic, as regulated by Austrian law for the equal treatment of all parliamentary parties.
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Freda Meissner-Blau | 234,028 | 4.82 (#4) | 8 / 183 | New | Opposition |
| 1990 | Johannes Voggenhuber | 225,084 | 4.78 (#4) | 10 / 183 |  2 | Opposition |
| 1994 | Madeleine Petrovic | 338,538 | 7.31 (#4) | 13 / 183 | 3 | Opposition |
| 1995 | 233,208 | 4.81 (#5) | 9 / 183 |  4 | Opposition | |
| 1999 | Alexander Van der Bellen | 342,260 | 7.40 (#4) | 14 / 183 | 5 | Opposition |
| 2002 | 464,980 | 9.47 (#4) | 17 / 183 | 3 | Opposition | |
| 2006 | 520,130 | 11.05 (#3) | 21 / 183 | 4 | Opposition | |
| 2008 | 509,936 | 10.43 (#5) | 20 / 183 | 1 | Opposition | |
| 2013 | Eva Glawischnig | 582,657 | 12.42 (#4) | 24 / 183 | 4 | Opposition |
| 2017 | Ulrike Lunacek | 192,638 | 3.80 (#6) | 0 / 183 | 24 | No seats |
| 2019 | Werner Kogler | 664,055 | 13.90 (#4) | 26 / 183 | 26 | ÖVP–GRÜNE majority |
| 2024 | 402,107 | 8.2 (#5) | 15 / 183 | 11 | Opposition |
In the2016 Austrian presidential election,Alexander Van der Bellen won the election with 50.35% of the votes and defeatedNorbert Hofer theFreedom Party of Austria politician who received 49.65% of the vote.[26] Van der Bellen became the first president from the Greens. On 1 July, the Constitutional Court overturned the result of the election and ordered a re-run because of irregularities during the counting process. On 4 December 2016 Van der Bellen won the re-run of the second round with 53.79% of the votes to Hofer's 46.21%.
| Election | Candidate | First round result | Second round result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Result | Votes | % | Result | ||
| 1986 | Freda Meissner-Blau | 259,689 | 5.5 | 3rd place | N/a | ||
| 1992 | Robert Jungk | 266,954 | 5.7 | 4th place | N/a | ||
| 1998 | Gertraud Knoll | 566,551 | 13.6 | 2nd place | N/a | ||
| 2004 | did not contest | ||||||
| 2010 | did not contest | ||||||
| 2016 | Alexander Van der Bellen | 913,218 | 21.3 | Runner-up | 2,472,892 | 53.8 | Won |
| 2022 | 2,299,592 | 56.7 | Won | N/a | |||
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Johannes Voggenhuber | 258,250 | 6.81 (#4) | 1 / 21 | New | G |
| 1999 | 260,273 | 9.29 (#4) | 2 / 21 | 1 | Greens/EFA | |
| 2004 | 322,429 | 12.89 (#4) | 2 / 18 |  0 | ||
| 2009 | Ulrike Lunacek | 284,505 | 9.93 (#5) | 2 / 17 | 0 | |
| 2014 | 410,089 | 14.52 (#4) | 3 / 18 | 1 | ||
| 2019 | Werner Kogler | 532,194 | 14.08 (#4) | 3 / 19 | 0 | |
| 2024 | Lena Schilling | 364,251 | 10.74 (#4) | 2 / 20 | 1 |
| State | Year | Votes | % | Seats | ± | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burgenland | 2025 | 11,062 | 5.7 (#4) | 2 / 36 | 0 | SPÖ-GRÜNE |
| Carinthia | 2023 | 11,676 | 3.9 (#5) | 0 / 36 | 0 | No seats |
| Lower Austria | 2023 | 68,276 | 7.6 (#4) | 4 / 56 | 1 | Opposition |
| Salzburg | 2023 | 22,074 | 8.2 (#5) | 3 / 36 | 0 | Opposition |
| Styria | 2024 | 40,870 | 6.2 (#4) | 3 / 48 | 3 | Opposition |
| Tyrol | 2022 | 31,598 | 9.2 (#5) | 3 / 36 | 1 | Opposition |
| Upper Austria | 2021 | 99,496 | 12.3 (#4) | 7 / 56 | 1 | Opposition |
| Vienna | 2025 | 92,130 | 14.19 (#3) | 16 / 100 | | Opposition |
| Vorarlberg | 2024 | 22,926 | 12.4 (#3) | 4 / 36 | 3 | Opposition |
| Year |  Pres. | NR |  EU |  Bgld |  Ktn |  NÖ |  Sbg |  Stmk |  Tyrol | OÖ | Wien | Vbg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | N/A | 3.3[a] | N/A | 1.5[b] | 2.5[c] | ||||||||
| 1984 | 1.8[a] | 4.3 | 2.9 | 13.0 | |||||||||
| 1985 | 3.9[a] | ||||||||||||
| 1986 | 5.5 (R1) | 4.8 | 3.7 | ||||||||||
| 1987 | W | 2.2 | 5.2[a] | ||||||||||
| 1988 | 3.6[a] | ||||||||||||
| 1989 | 3.3[a] | 7.9[a] | 9.5[a] | 10.1[a] | |||||||||
| 1990 | 4.8 | ||||||||||||
| 1991 | 3.4 | 4.6[a] | 5.7[a] | 10.9[a] | |||||||||
| 1992 | 5.8 (R1) | ||||||||||||
| 1993 | W | 4.4[a] | |||||||||||
| 1994 | 7.3 | 1.6 | 7.3 | 10.7[a] | 7.8 | ||||||||
| 1995 | 4.8 | 4.3 | Proporz | ||||||||||
| 1996 | 6.8 | 2.5 | 7.9 | ||||||||||
| 1997 | 5.8 | ||||||||||||
| 1998 | 13.6 (R1) | 4.5 | |||||||||||
| 1999 | 7.4 | 9.3 | 3.9[d] | 5.4 | 8.0 | 6.0 | |||||||
| 2000 | 5.5 | 5.6 | |||||||||||
| 2001 | 12.5 | ||||||||||||
| 2002 | 9.5 | ||||||||||||
| 2003 | 7.2 | 15.6 | 9.1 | ||||||||||
| 2004 | Did not stand | 12.9 | 6.7 | 8.0 | 10.2 | ||||||||
| 2005 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 14.6 | ||||||||||
| 2006 | 11.1 | ||||||||||||
| 2007 | |||||||||||||
| 2008 | 10.4 | 6.9 | 10.7 | ||||||||||
| 2009 | 9.9 | 5.2 | 7.4 | 9.2 | 10.6 | ||||||||
| 2010 | Did not stand | 4.2 | 5.6 | 12.6 | |||||||||
| 2011 | |||||||||||||
| 2012 | |||||||||||||
| 2013 | 12.4 | 12.1 | 8.1 | 20.2 | 12.6 | ||||||||
| 2014 | 14.5 | 17.1 | |||||||||||
| 2015 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 10.3 | 11.8 | |||||||||
| 2016 | 21.3 (R1)53.8 (R2) | Proporz | |||||||||||
| 2017 | W | 3.8 | |||||||||||
| 2018 | 3.1 | 6.4 | 9.3 | 10.7 | |||||||||
| 2019 | 13.9 | 14.1 | 12.1 | 18.9 | |||||||||
| 2020 | 6.7 | 14.8 | |||||||||||
| 2021 | 12.3 | ||||||||||||
| 2022 | 56.7 (R1) | 9.2 | Proporz | ||||||||||
| 2023 | 3.9 | 7.6 | 8.2 | ||||||||||
| 2024 | 8.2 | 10.7 | 6.2 | 12.4 | |||||||||
| 2025 | 5.7 | 14.5 | |||||||||||
| Year | Pres. | NR | EU | Bgld | Ktn | NÖ | Sbg | Stmk | Tyrol | OÖ | Wien | Vbg | |
| Bold indicates best result to date. Present in legislature (in opposition) / Present in presidential first round Junior coalition partner / Present in presidential second round Senior coalition partner / Presidential winner | |||||||||||||
Among the most notable founding members and mentors are or were ProfessorAlexander Tollmann, the painterFriedensreich Hundertwasser, actorHerbert Fux, the mayor ofSteyreggJosef Buchner (the first Green mayor in Austria – in 1987 excluded from the Green parliamentary club),Freda Meissner-Blau andGünther Nenning, withNobel Prize laureateKonrad Lorenz supporting the 1984 protests at Hainburg.
Today, Green politicians include (in alphabetical order)
Media related toAustrian Green Party at Wikimedia Commons
(in German)
