Election of the Federal President in Austria in 1998
The election of the federal president in Austria in 1998 , the tenth popular election of an Austrian head of state , took place on April 19, 1998. Five candidates ran.
The previous incumbent, Thomas Klestil , was confirmed in his office in the first ballot. This made him the fourth Federal President to begin a second term. Since he died on July 6, 2004 just two days before his elected successor Heinz Fischer was sworn in, he became the fifth Federal President to die in office.
Starting position
The previous Federal President, Thomas Klestil , ran for a new election, as the constitution allowed. His opponents were:
- Gertraud Knoll , who ran as independent, although she was a member of the SPÖ ,
- Heide Schmidt from the Liberal Forum , who ran for the second time in a federal presidential election, after her unsuccessful candidacy for the FPÖ in the 1992 election ,
- Richard Lugner , candidate of his party The Independents ,
- and the independent author Karl Walter Nowak .
Candidates and results of the ballot
candidate | valid votes | proportion of |
---|---|---|
Thomas Klestil | 2,644,034 | 63.4% |
Gertraud Knoll | 566,551 | 13.6% |
Heide Schmidt | 464.625 | 11.1% |
Richard Lugner | 413.066 | 9.9% |
Karl Walter Nowak | 81,043 | 1.9% |
Out of 5,848,584 eligible voters, 4,351,272 cast their votes, resulting in a voter turnout of 74.4%. 181,953 votes were considered invalid, which corresponds to 4.18% of the votes cast.
Swearing in
Thomas Klestil was sworn in again on July 8, 1998 before the Federal Assembly.