On 29 September, Austria held legislative elections to elect all 183 seats in the National Council.
ALDE Party member NEOS, led by Beate Meinl-Reisinger, received a record 9.2% of the popular vote and won 18 seats in the next mandate, pending final results.
The result represents a gain of 1.1 percentage point from the last legislative election held in 2019, when liberals won 15 seats thanks to 8.1% of the popular vote.
“I am very pleased with our result. Austrians want change, and only NEOS could bring about positive change. We stand for reform. It is the best result in our history, it was the best election campaign Austria has ever seen. Now it is time to form a government: we want a pro-European government and not one that isolates itself in Europe," Meinl-Reisinger told members at NEOS’ election party in central Vienna.
NEOS was founded ahead of the 2013 national elections in Austria and has been on a steady rise since then, gaining popularity at local, national and European level.
Last June, NEOS doubled their representation in the European Parliament as Helmut Brandstätter and Anna Stürgkh were elected as MEPs.