2019 Australian Open – Main Draw Wildcard Entries, Australian Wildcard Playoff
The December Showdown is held annually for two weeks in December. The Showdown includes age championships for 12/u, 14/u, 16/u and 18/u age categories. It also hosts the 2019 Australian Wildcard Playoff which will be held from 10 to 16 December 2018 at Melbourne Park, offering a main draw singles wildcard for men and women and a main draw women's doubles wildcard.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Doubles
Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut won the Men's Doubles tennis title at the 2019 Australian Open, defeating Henri Kontinen and John Peers in the final, 6–4, 7–6(7–1). They are the first French players to achieve the Career Grand Slam as well as only the 8th Men's Doubles pair to achieve this feat.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Doubles
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavić were the defending champions, but lost to Máximo González and Nicolás Jarry in the second round.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Doubles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Legends' Doubles
Mansour Bahrami and Mark Philippoussis won the title, defeating Jonas Björkman and Thomas Johansson in the final, 4–3(5–3), 4–2. The Men's Legends' Doubles was competed in the 2019 Australian Open in Melbourne Park. "Doubles tennis can be enjoyed by players of all levels and of all ages", from children beginning tennis lessons through to the level of the Australian Open.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Singles
Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in the final, 6–3, 6–2, 6–3 to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 2019 Australian Open. It was Djokovic's record-breaking seventh Australian Open title and 15th major title overall, surpassing Pete Sampras for third place on the all-time list, behind Roger Federer and Nadal. Djokovic and Nadal were also in contention for the ATP no. 1 singles ranking; Djokovic retained the top ranking by reaching the fourth round. Nadal attempted to become the first man in the Open Era to achieve a double career Grand Slam.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Singles
Federer was the two-time defending champion, and was also seeking a record-breaking seventh Australian Open title, but he lost in the fourth round to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Federer's loss meant that he would drop out of the top 5 in the ATP Rankings for the first time since April 2017. Tsitsipas became the first Greek player to reach the semifinals at a major singles tournament, after becoming the first man representing Greece to win a main draw singles match at the Australian Open.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Singles
This was the first Australian Open since 1976 to feature a final set tie-break. Upon reaching 6–6 in the fifth set, a long tie-break is played where the winner is the first to both reach ten points and lead by two points. The first men's singles main draw match to feature the ten-point tiebreak was the first round match between Jérémy Chardy and Ugo Humbert.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Singles
This tournament was expected to be the last Australian Open appearance of five-time finalist Andy Murray, who lost to Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round in five sets. Murray had previously stated his intention to retire from the sport following the 2019 Wimbledon Championships. However, five months after an operation on his hip Murray returned to competitive tennis, initially playing doubles.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


2019 Australian Open – Men's Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw for men's singles at the 2019 Australian Open.


2019 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles
Barbora Krejčíková and Rajeev Ram won the Mixed Doubles tennis title at the 2019 Australian Open, defeating Astra Sharma and John-Patrick Smith in the final, 7–6(7–3), 6–1.


2019 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles
Gabriela Dabrowski and Mate Pavić were the defending champions, but lost in the quarterfinals to María José Martínez Sánchez and Neal Skupski.


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Men's Doubles
Stéphane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer were the defending champions, but Peifer chose not to participate.


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Men's Doubles
Houdet partnered alongside Ben Weekes, but they lost in the final to Joachim Gérard and Stefan Olsson, 6–3, 6–2.


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Men's Singles
Shingo Kunieda was the defending champion, but lost to Stefan Olsson in the semifinals.


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Men's Singles
Gustavo Fernández won the title, defeating Olsson in the final, 7–5, 6–3.


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Quad Doubles
Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson were the defending champions, and successfully defended the title, defeating Andy Lapthorne and David Wagner in the final, 6–3, 6–7(6–8), [12–10].


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Quad Singles
Dylan Alcott was the four-time defending champion and successfully defended his title, defeating David Wagner in the final, 6–4, 7–6(7–2).


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Women's Doubles
Marjolein Buis and Yui Kamiji were the defending champions, but chose to participate with different partners.


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Women's Doubles
Kamiji partnered Giulia Capocci, but lost in the first round to Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot.


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Women's Doubles
Buis played alongside Sabine Ellerbrock, but lost to de Groot and van Koot in the final, 5–7, 7–6(7–4), [10–8].


2019 Australian Open – Wheelchair Women's Singles
Diede de Groot was the defending champion and successfully defended her title, defeating Yui Kamiji in the final, 6–0, 6–2.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Doubles
Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai won the Women's Doubles tennis title at the 2019 Australian Open, defeating defending champions Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in the final 6–3, 6–4.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Doubles
Kateřina Siniaková retained the WTA no. 1 doubles ranking after reaching the third round with Barbora Krejčíková. Barbora Strýcová was also in contention for the top ranking at the start of the tournament.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Doubles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Singles
Naomi Osaka defeated Petra Kvitová 7–6(7–2), 5–7, 6–4 in the final to win the Women's Singles tennis title at the 2019 Australian Open. By winning the tournament, Osaka took over the WTA no. 1 singles ranking from Simona Halep and also became the first player since Jennifer Capriati to win their first two Grand Slam titles in consecutive fashion. Eleven players had a theoretical chance of becoming no. 1 at the start of the tournament (ten if Halep played her first match). In addition to Kvitová and Osaka, Sloane Stephens, Karolína Plíšková, Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens, Aryna Sabalenka and Daria Kasatkina were also in contention for the no. 1 ranking at the start of this tournament, but were eliminated from contention as the tournament progressed.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Singles
Caroline Wozniacki was the defending champion, but lost in the third round to Maria Sharapova.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Singles
Amanda Anisimova became the first player born in the 21st century to advance to the fourth round of a Grand Slam singles tournament. Ashleigh Barty also became the first Australian to reach the quarterfinals since Jelena Dokic in the 2009 Australian Open.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Singles
This was the first Australian Open to feature a final set tiebreak. When the score in a final set reaches 6–6, the first player to reach 10 points and be leading by at least 2 points wins the set (and the match). Katie Boulter and Ekaterina Makarova became the first players to contest this tiebreak in the main draw, with Boulter emerging victorious. This was also the first Grand Slam main draw appearance of Poland's first Grand Slam singles champion Iga Świątek. She lost to Camila Giorgi in the second round.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Singles
For the first time since 2009 Wimbledon, all of the top eight seeds reached the third round at a Grand Slam women's singles event.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


2019 Australian Open – Women's Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw for women's singles at the 2019 Australian Open.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot
In late 2019, various media outlets around the world have reported on alleged efforts by the People's Republic of China to infiltrate the Parliament of Australia by "recruiting a spy" to run in a constituency during an election.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Alleged plot
The alleged plot was made public during the November 24 airing of 60 Minutes on Australia's Nine Network, citing sources with knowledge of the plot. It was suggested that Chinese spies offered $1 million to fund a man's campaign for the Division of Chisholm. The Division of Chisholm is noted to contain many voters of Chinese heritage.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Alleged plot
In 2018, the incident was reported by the man who was approached with the offer to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). Neither the Nine Network, which airs 60 Minutes, nor the ASIO have confirmed when the approach to Zhao took place.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao
The target of the plot was reported to be Bo "Nick" Zhao, who once owned a number of car dealerships and lived in Glen Iris with a wife and daughter.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao
Zhao's former business associates have described him as an ambitious man who got ahead of himself and wanted to make money quick.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao
According to court records, Zhao was charged with obtaining financial advantage by deception in 2017, due to accusations he obtained loans via fraudulent means in order to buy luxury vehicles.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao
Zhao was in jail in October 2018, when preselection for the 2019 federal election was being held.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao
Administrators began to pursue Zhao in 2019 over the collapse of a car dealership in Brighton.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao
By early 2019, Zhao had a fallout with his wife over debts Zhao owed to Chinese investors that were described as "shadowy". Reports say Zhao owed millions to people who, over time, became increasingly angry.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao
In March 2019, Zhao was found dead in a hotel room in the Mount Waverley area of Melbourne. The death happened just days prior to him intending to plead guilty in court to various fraud offenses.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao
Zhao's death has prompted a coroner's inquiry into the incident. In September 2020, a coroner in Victoria ruled that Zhao died of suicide, having apparently overdosed on medication while under intense financial pressure.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao, Involvement with the Liberal Party
Records kept by the Liberal party show Zhao as a party member in the Division of Chisholm from 2015 until his death. Andrew Hastie, a Liberal MP who chairs the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security , describe Zhao as a paid-up member of the Liberal Party.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao, Involvement with the Liberal Party
Sources familiar with Zhao's activities, however, describe him as a low-profile member of the local Liberal Party branch. They say Zhao attended at least one branch gathering with members of his immediate family before the 2016 Federal election, but did not otherwise agitate to become an MP himself. They say Zhao stopped attending party events in 2016 amidst personal problems.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Bo "Nick" Zhao, Involvement with the Liberal Party
A senior Liberal Party member with knowledge of membership lists also said Zhao was not known to senior party members, by any measure. Scott Yung, a Chinese-Australian Liberal Party member, said he does not believe Zhao was ever "active" within the party.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Brian Chen Chunsheng
Some media reports have identified the person who approached Zhao as Melbourne businessperson Brian Chen Chunsheng.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Brian Chen Chunsheng
The Age has reported that Chen is flagged as a suspected senior Chinese intelligence operative by various Western security sources, and that Chen has posed for pictures in People's Liberation Army military uniforms, in addition to posing as a journalist during certain international political summits.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Brian Chen Chunsheng
Chen is known to have made political donations to Australia's two major political parties, and his company is known to be promoting China's Belt and Road Initiative, leading to accusations he is using the Belt and Road Initiative as a cover to conduct intelligence operations.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Brian Chen Chunsheng
Chen himself has denied the allegations, claiming photos of him donning Chinese military uniforms were merely him borrowing a friend's military uniform to show off, and that he was given journalist accreditation by a media outlet owner in order for him to attend international political summits. Chen has also denied knowing Zhao, in addition to denying reports that he is involved in Chinese intelligence activities.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Parties reportedly involved, Brian Chen Chunsheng
There is no suggestion of Chen having any knowledge or involvement in Zhao's death. Chen has reportedly not returned to Australia since leaving the country in March of 2019.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Aftermath
In the 2019 Federal election, Gladys Liu was elected as a Liberal Party MP for the Division of Chisholm, beating out a Labor Party candidate of Taiwanese heritage in a surprise victory.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Aftermath
Even prior to details of the infiltration plot being made public, Liu was accused of being a member of the China Overseas Exchange Association, which belonged to the State Council of the People's Republic of China at the time of her membership. In addition, Liu has been accused of being an honorary chair of overseas Chinese trade and commerce bodies that are believed to be linked to the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department. Reports on this incident has brought renewed attention to allegations against Liu, especially since at least two photos show Liu and Zhao at a meeting that was held in Liu's former home during Australia Day in 2016.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Aftermath
Liu said she has "no recollection" of having met Zhao. There are no suggestions that Liu was involved in the infiltration plot.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Reactions, Australia
ASIO's Director-General, Mike Burgess, refused to comment on the matter in depth due to "long-standing practice", but did say the agency was previously aware of the incident, and there is an active investigation underway.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Reactions, Australia
Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the allegations as "deeply disturbing and troubling".


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Reactions, People's Republic of China
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Geng Shuang have decried the accusations as "nothing but lies", and accused Australia of "a state of hysteria and extreme nervousness".


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Potential impact
It was noted that Zhao's legal and financial troubles would have made it almost impossible for him to be selected by the Liberals as a candidate in the first place, let alone win the election.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Potential impact
Monash University lecturer Sow Keat Tok said while the repercussions would have been huge if the allegations are true and Zhao was elected, it would still have taken Zhao years, if not decades, to get into the inner circle of the Australian decision-makers.


2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot, Potential impact
Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Alex Joske said it may be possible that any approach made on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party was not to target a particular election, but as part of a long-term strategy.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships
The 2019 Australian Swimming Championships were held from 7 to 12 April 2019 at the South Australia Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Adelaide, South Australia.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships
Following Australia's performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics where 29 medals were won and finishing 10th on the medal tally, Swimming Australia announced in the February 2017 that the timing of the selection trails would be modified. Historically, the trails were held in April several months before the Olympics were held. This will be now changed to follow the American model where the trails are held six weeks before. The 2019 Australian World Swimming Trials will be held at the Brisbane Aquatics Centre in June 2019 and will be selection trails for the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships
This event doubled up as the national trials for the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London, the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy and the 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships
There was an increase in the number of events contested from 63 to 64 from the 2018 National Championships with addition of the mixed 4 × 100 m medley relay. This was due to the IOC announcing in June 2017 that this event as well as the men's 800 m freestyle and the women's 1500 m freestyle events will be added to the Olympic swimming program at the Tokyo 2020 Games.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships
Emily Seebohm chose to miss this meet to participate in the inaugural FINA Champions Swim Series event in Guangzhou, China, while Thomas Fraser-Holmes was away competing at the Helsinki Swim Meet and Bergen Swim Festival. Mack Horton was forced out due to a shoulder injury.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships
During night three of the championships, Cate Campbell on behalf of Swimming Australia paid tribute to Kenneth To who died a few weeks prior.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships
Defending women's 200 metre backstroke champion Kaylee McKeown was disqualified during the heats of the event. She was permitted to swim a time trail where she stopped the clock at 2:08.56 well ahead of Minna Atherton's winning time of 2:11.18 in the final.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships
The legends relay was a mixed 4 × 50 m freestyle event swum on the penultimate night of the meet. The team were:


2019 Australian Swimming Championships
The event was won by Team Bramham in a time of 1:47.14, followed by Team Schipper (1:49.72), Team Trickett (1:50.01) and Team Klim (1:52.54).


2019 Australian Swimming Championships, Medal winners, Mixed multiclass events
Legend: WR – World record; CR – Commonwealth record; OR – Oceanian record; AR – Australian record; ACR – Australian All Comers record; Club – Australian Club record; MR – Meet record


2019 Australian Swimming Championships, Records broken
During the 2019 Australian Swimming Championships the following records were set.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships, World Para Swimming Championships team
On 12 April 2019, the team for the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships was announced. 34 members were named with the nine making their international debut.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships, Club points scores
The final club point scores are below. Note: Only the top ten clubs are listed.


2019 Australian Swimming Championships, Broadcast
The morning sessions were streamed live on the website of Swimming Australia. The evening sessions were broadcast live on 7TWO. This was the fourth national championships to be screen by Seven after securing the broadcast rights with Swimming Australia in September 2015. The commentary team consisted of Basil Zempilas, Ian Thorpe, Giaan Rooney with poolside interviews conducted by Nathan Templeton.


2019 Australian Women in Music Awards
The 2019 Australian Women in Music Awards was the second Australian Women in Music Awards. The event took place on 9 October 2019. 15 award categories were presented, including new awards for Excellence in Classical Music, Excellence in Image Making and Music Journalism. The Educator Award, Auriel Andrew Memorial Award and Musical Excellence Award were retired.


2019 Australian World Swimming Trials
The 2019 Australian World Swimming Trials are current being held from 9 to 14 June 2019 at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre in Brisbane, Queensland. The event is the selection trails for the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.


2019 Australian World Swimming Trials
Following Australia's performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics where 29 medals were won and finishing 10th on the medal tally, Swimming Australia announced in the February 2017 that the timing of the selection trails would be modified. Historically, the trails were held in April several months before the Olympics were held. This will be now changed to follow the American model where the trails are held six weeks before.


2019 Australian World Swimming Trials
A Para Grand Prix will be held in conjunction with the trials on the 13 to 14 June 2019.


2019 Australian World Swimming Trials
The legends relay was a mixed 4 × 50 m freestyle event swam on the fourth night of the meet. The team were:


2019 Australian World Swimming Trials
The event was won by Team Flouch in a time of 1:57.99, followed by Team Gallen (2:02.86) and Team FFrost where Nick Ffrost swam the backstroke and freestyle legs (2:17.02).


2019 Australian World Swimming Trials, Medal winners, Women's multiclass events
Legend: WR – World record; CR – Commonwealth record; OR – Oceanian record; AR – Australian record; ACR – Australian All Comers record; Club – Australian Club record


2019 Australian World Swimming Trials, Records broken
During the 2019 Australian World Swimming Trails the following records were set.


2019 Australian federal budget
The 2019 Australian federal budget was the federal budget to fund government services and operations for the 2019–20 financial year. The budget was presented to the House of Representatives by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on 2 April 2019. It was the sixth budget to be handed down by the Liberal/National Coalition since their election to government at the 2013 federal election, and the first budget to be handed down by Frydenberg and the Morrison Government. All of the figures below are estimates published in the 2019-20 budget documents.


2019 Australian federal budget, Forecasts, Revenues, Memorandum
Note: Capital gains tax is part of gross other individuals, company tax and superannuation fund taxes, while the Medicare Levy is included in income taxes.


2019 Australian federal budget, Debt and deficit
The Budget deficit for 2018/19 is expected to be $4.162 billion, falling from $10.141 billion in 2017/18.


2019 Australian federal budget, Debt and deficit
The surplus for 2019-20 is expected to be around $7 billion.


2019 Australian federal budget, Debt and deficit
The government's debt level was forecast to be $629 billion in 2019/20.


2019 Australian federal election
The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissolution federal election. All 151 seats in the House of Representatives (lower house) and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate (upper house) were up for election.


2019 Australian federal election
The second-term incumbent minority Liberal/National Coalition Government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, won a third three-year term by defeating the opposition Australian Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. The Coalition claimed a three-seat majority with 77 seats, Labor finished with 68, whilst the remaining six seats were won by the Australian Greens, Centre Alliance, Katter's Australian Party and three independents.


2019 Australian federal election
The electoral system of Australia enforces compulsory voting and uses full-preference instant-runoff voting in single-member seats for the House of Representatives and optional preferential single transferable voting in the Senate. The election was administered by the Australian Electoral Commission.


2019 Australian federal election
The result was considered an upset as polling had placed the Coalition consistently behind for almost three years. It was the first time since 2001 that a Federal government in Australia won a third consecutive term in office. The Coalition benefited from a stronger-than-expected showing in Queensland. The Liberal National Party of Queensland won 23 of the state's 30 seats with a statewide primary vote of 43%. Indeed, the net two-seat swing to the LNP in Queensland was enough to allow the Coalition to regain its majority.


2019 Australian federal election
On election night, Shorten declared his intention to stand down as leader of his party, but to remain in parliament.


2019 Australian federal election, Results, House of Representatives
Independents: Andrew Wilkie (Clark), Helen Haines (Indi), Zali Steggall (Warringah).


2019 Australian federal election, Results, House of Representatives, Divisions changing party
Members in italics did not re-contest their House of Representatives seats at this election.


2019 Australian federal election, Results, Senate
Out of 40 Senate seats up for election, the Coalition won 19, while Labor won 13 seats. The Greens won 6 seats, while the only other minor party candidates elected were former senator Malcolm Roberts for One Nation in Queensland, and Jacqui Lambie (JLN) in Tasmania. The Senate crossbench became substantially smaller, with incumbent senators Derryn Hinch, Duncan Spender, Peter Georgiou, Brian Burston, and Fraser Anning, as well as former parliamentarians Clive Palmer and Skye Kakoschke-Moore, failing in their bids to win Senate seats.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Previous election
The outcome of the 2016 federal election could not be determined on election night, with too many seats in doubt. After a week of vote counting, neither the incumbent Turnbull Government led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of the Liberal/National Coalition nor the Shorten Opposition led by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten of the Australian Labor Party had won enough seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives to form a majority government.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Previous election
During the uncertain week following the election, Turnbull negotiated with the crossbench and secured confidence and supply support from Bob Katter and from independents Andrew Wilkie and Cathy McGowan in the event of a hung parliament and resulting minority government. During crossbench negotiations, Turnbull pledged additional staff and resources for crossbenchers, and stated "It is my commitment to work in every way possible to ensure that the crossbenchers have access to all of the information they need and all of the resources they need to be able to play the role they need in this parliament".


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Previous election
On 10 July, eight days after the election took place and following Turnbull's negotiations with the crossbench where he secured sufficient confidence and supply support, Shorten conceded defeat, acknowledging that the incumbent Coalition had enough seats to form either a minority or majority government. Turnbull claimed victory later that day. In the closest federal majority result since the 1961 election, the ABC declared on 11 July that the incumbent Coalition would be able to form a one-seat majority government.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Previous election
It was the first election result since federation where the post-election opposition won more seats than the post-election government in both of Australia's two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Previous election, Result
In the 150-seat House of Representatives, the one-term incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government suffered a 14-seat swing, reducing it to 76 seats—a bare one-seat majority. With a national three-point two-party swing against the government, the Labor opposition picked up a significant number of previously government-held seats to gain a total of 69 seats. On the crossbench, the Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team, Katter's Australian Party, and independents Wilkie and McGowan won a seat each. On 19 July, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) announced a re-count for the Coalition-held but provisionally Labor-won Division of Herbert. At the start of the Herbert re-count, Labor led by eight votes. The AEC announced on 31 July that Labor had won Herbert by 37 votes.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Previous election, Result
The final outcome in the 76-seat Senate took more than four weeks to determine, despite significant voting changes. Earlier in 2016, legislation changed the Senate voting system from a full-preference single transferable vote with group voting tickets to an optional-preferential single transferable vote. The final Senate result was announced on 4 August: Liberal/National Coalition 30 seats (−3), Labor 26 seats (+1), Greens 9 seats (−1), One Nation 4 seats (+4) and Nick Xenophon Team 3 seats (+2). Derryn Hinch won a seat, while Jacqui Lambie, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm and Family First's Bob Day retained their seats.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Previous election, Result
The number of crossbenchers increased by two to a record 20. The Liberal/National Coalition will require at least nine additional votes to reach a Senate majority, an increase of three. The Liberal and Labor parties agreed to support a motion in the parliament that the first six senators elected in each state would serve a six-year term, while the last six elected would serve a three-year term.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Changes in parliamentary composition
Since the 2016 election, a number of parliamentarians resigned from their seats, while some were disqualified by the High Court of Australia in the parliamentary eligibility crisis as a result of the dual citizenship of some MPs. However, in the cases of disqualified House of Representatives MPs, most of these were returned in resulting by-elections. Some MPs changed their party affiliation or their independent status.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Changes in parliamentary composition
Following the parliamentary eligibility crisis, the AEC's form for nomination was updated to ask detailed questions on whether candidates are disqualified under Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia. Three Victorian Liberal candidates had to withdraw based on section 44 issues.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Change of Prime Minister
Following the Liberal Party leadership spill on 24 August 2018, Malcolm Turnbull was replaced as Prime Minister by Scott Morrison. Turnbull resigned from parliament on 31 August, triggering a by-election in his former seat of Wentworth. The by-election was won by independent Kerryn Phelps. This, combined with National MP Kevin Hogan's move to the crossbench and the resignation of MP Julia Banks from the Liberal Party, reduced the government to 73 seats going into the election; a net three-seat deficit.


2019 Australian federal election, Background, Change of Prime Minister
Further dissatisfaction within the Liberal Party saw a number of centrist and economically-liberal candidates announce that they would nominate as independents in wealthy electorates, with a specific focus on "addressing climate change".


2019 Australian federal election, Candidates
There were 1,514 candidates in total (1,056 for the House of Representatives and 458 for the Senate).


2019 Australian federal election, State of electorates
After effects of boundary redistributions for the next election, and the 2018 Wentworth by-election, the Mackerras pendulum had the Liberal/National Coalition government on 73 of 151 seats with the Labor opposition on 72 seats and a crossbench of six seats.


2019 Australian federal election, State of electorates
Assuming a theoretical nationwide uniform swing, the Labor opposition needed at least 50.7% of the two-party vote (at least a 1.1-point two-party swing) to win 76 seats and majority government. The incumbent Coalition government no longer held a majority, and required at least 51.1% of the two-party vote (at least a 0.7-point two-party swing) to regain it.


2019 Australian federal election, Retiring members
Members of Parliament and Senators who chose not to renominate for the 2019 election are as follows:


2019 Australian federal election, Opinion polls, Assessment of polling accuracy
The result of the 2019 election was in stark contrast to the aggregation of opinion polls conducted over the period of the 45th parliament and the 2019 election campaign. Apart from a few outliers, Labor had been ahead for the entire period, by as much as 56% on a two-party-preferred basis after Scott Morrison took over the leadership of the Liberal Party in August 2018—although during the campaign, Labor's two-party estimate was between 51 and 52%.


2019 Australian federal election, Opinion polls, Assessment of polling accuracy
During the ABC's election coverage, election analyst Antony Green stated, "at the moment, on these figures, it's a bit of a spectacular failure of opinion polling", with the election results essentially a mirror image of the polls with the Coalition's two-party vote at around 51%.


2019 Australian federal election, Opinion polls, Assessment of polling accuracy
The former director of Newspoll, Martin O'Shannessy, cited changes in demographics and telephone habits which have changed the nature of polling from calling random samples of landlines to calling random mobile numbers and automated "robocalls"—with the ensuing drop in response rates resulting in lower quality data due to smaller samples and bias in the sample due to who chooses to respond.


2019 Australian federal election, Opinion polls, Assessment of polling accuracy
Several analysts and statisticians found the lack of variance of the two-party preferred estimates concerning—truly random poll sampling would see the results "bounce around" within each poll's margin of error, but the differences between figures in the final few weeks of the campaign were so consistently small as to be highly improbable to happen under random chance. Some analysts suspected the phenomenon of "herding" had occurred—as polling companies attempted to adjust for bias, they had "massaged" their results to be similar to other polls, resulting in an artificial closeness.


2019 Australian federal election, Election date
An election for the House of Representatives can be called at any time during the maximum three-year parliamentary term. The term of the House of Representatives starts on the first sitting day of the House following its election, which in the case of the 45th Parliament was 30 August 2016. The House therefore would expire on 29 August 2019, unless it were dissolved earlier. In this case, the Parliament was dissolved on 11 April and an election called for 18 May 2019. This occurred after Prime Minister Scott Morrison visited the Governor-General advising him to prorogue Parliament and dissolve the House of Representatives. The Governor-General accepted Morrison's recommendations, as is the custom in Australia's Westminster system of government.


2019 Australian federal election, Election date
The Constitution of Australia does not require simultaneous elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives, but it has long been preferred that elections for the two houses take place simultaneously. The most recent House-only election took place in 1972, and the most recent Senate-only election took place in 1970. However, the writs for a half-Senate election could not be issued earlier than 1 July 2018. Section 13 of the Constitution requires that the election of senators must take place within one year before the terms expire for half-Senate elections.


2019 Australian federal election, Election date
Since the previous election was a double dissolution, half of the senators were allocated three-year terms that end on 30 June 2019, while the other half were allocated six-year terms that end on 30 June 2022. Senators from the territories serve terms timed with House elections. Since campaigns are for a minimum of 33 days, the earliest possible date for a simultaneous House/half-Senate election was 4 August 2018.


2019 Australian federal election, Election date
The latest that a half-Senate election could be held must allow time for the votes to be counted and the writs to be returned before the newly elected senators take office on 1 July 2019. This took over a month in 2016, so practically the last possible date for a half-Senate election to take place before the three-year terms expire is 18 May 2019.


2019 Australian federal election, Election date
An election for the House of Representatives needed to be held on or before 2 November 2019. The latest date for the election is calculated from the Constitution and the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (CEA). Section 28 of the Constitution provides that a term of the House of Representatives expires three years from the first sitting of the House, unless dissolved earlier. The last federal election was held on 2 July 2016. The 45th Parliament opened on 30 August 2016 and its term would expire on 29 August 2019.


2019 Australian federal election, Election date
Writs for election can be issued up to ten days after a dissolution or expiry of the House. Up to 27 days can be allowed for nominations, and the actual election can be set for a maximum of 31 days after close of nominations, resulting in the latest election date for the House of Representatives of Saturday, 2 November 2019.


2019 Australian federal election, Election date
A double dissolution cannot take place within six months before the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives. That meant that any double dissolution of the 45th Parliament had to have been granted by 28 February 2019. Allowing for the same stages indicated above, the last possible date for a double dissolution election would have been 4 May 2019. This could only have occurred if a bill that had passed the House of Representatives was rejected by the Senate twice, at least three months apart.


2019 Australian federal election, Election date, Constitutional and legal provisions
The constitutional and legal provisions which impact on the choice of election dates include:


2019 Australian federal election, Election timeline
On 11 April 2019, the office of the Governor-General released documents relating to the calling of the election. The documents set out a timeline of key dates for the election.


2019 Australian federal election, Election timeline
The election period included three national public holidays: Good Friday (19 April), Easter Monday (22 April) and Anzac Day (25 April), as well as May Day and Labour Day in Northern Territory and Queensland, respectively, both falling on 6 May.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions
Since the previous election in 2016, there was a reapportionment of seats of the House of Representatives, as well as three scheduled redistributions of electoral boundaries. On 31 August 2017, the Australian Electoral Commission announced a reapportionment of seats based on calculation of each state and territory's entitlement determination: Victoria gained one seat to 38, the Australian Capital Territory gained a seat to 3, and South Australia lost one seat to 10. The total number of members of the House of Representatives increased from 150 to 151.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions
Following the reapportionment, which applied to the 2019 election, the allocation of seats was:


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions, Northern Territory
On 7 December 2016, the Electoral Commission for the Northern Territory announced the results of its deliberations into the boundaries of Lingiari and Solomon, the two federal electoral divisions in the Northern Territory. New boundaries gazetted from 7 February 2017 saw the remainder of the Litchfield Municipality and parts of Palmerston (the suburbs of Farrar, Johnston, Mitchell, Zuccoli and part of Yarrawonga) transferred from Solomon to Lingiari.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions, Tasmania
A scheduled redistribution began in Tasmania on 1 September 2016, with the determinations announced on 27 September 2017. In addition to boundary changes, the Division of Denison was renamed the Division of Clark after Andrew Inglis Clark.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions, Queensland
A scheduled redistribution began in Queensland on 6 January 2017, and was finalised on 27 March 2018. Changes were made to the boundaries of 18 of Queensland's 30 electoral divisions, and no division names were changed.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions, Australian Capital Territory
A redistribution of federal electoral divisions in the Australian Capital Territory commenced on 4 September 2017, due to changes in the territory's representation entitlement. The AEC released a proposed redistribution on 6 April 2018, and the final determination on 3 July 2018. The redistribution resulted in the creation of a third ACT electoral division named Bean (notionally fairly safe Labor), after historian Charles Bean.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions, Victoria
A redistribution of federal electoral divisions in Victoria commenced on 4 September 2017, due to changes in the state's representation entitlement. The determinations were announced on 20 June 2018, and created a 38th electoral division named Fraser (notionally safe Labor), named after prime minister Malcolm Fraser.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions, Victoria
The commission also renamed several divisions: Batman to Cooper (after William Cooper), McMillan to Monash (after Sir John Monash), Melbourne Ports to Macnamara (after Dame Jean Macnamara) and Murray to Nicholls (after Sir Douglas and Lady Nicholls). A proposal to rename Corangamite to Cox (after swimming instructor May Cox) did not proceed.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions, Victoria
The Coalition notionally lost the seats of Dunkley and Corangamite to Labor in the redistribution.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions, South Australia
A South Australian seat was abolished due to population changes having occurred since the state's last redistribution in 2011. Although South Australia's population was still increasing, faster increases in other states saw a reduction in South Australia's representation from 11 to 10 seats in the 151-seat House of Representatives. This was the third time South Australia had lost a seat since the 1984 enlargement of the parliament, with Hawker abolished in 1993 and Bonython in 2004. South Australia is the least-populated state where the current number of seats can decrease, as Tasmania's current representation is the minimum guaranteed by the Constitution.


2019 Australian federal election, Redistributions, South Australia
A redistribution of federal electoral divisions in South Australia commenced on 4 September 2017, due to changes in the state's representation entitlement. The proposed redistribution report was released on 13 April 2018, and the final determination on 26 June 2018. The commission abolished the division of Port Adelaide. The hybrid urban-rural seat of Wakefield became the entirely urban seat of Spence, after Catherine Helen Spence. The more rural portions of Wakefield transferred to Grey and Barker.


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements
The Sunday and daily editions of Australian newspapers traditionally provide editorial endorsement for parties contending both federal and state elections. Alternative newspapers have in recent times also provided backing for minor parties.


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Sunday editions
All four newspapers published by News Corp Australia (Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun, Adelaide's Sunday Mail, Brisbane's The Sunday Mail and Sydney's The Sunday Telegraph) endorsed the Coalition.


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Sunday editions
The Sunday Telegraph compared the major parties as a choice between Labor, which "seeks to present an agenda for social change, a generational correction for people doing it tough: pensioners, the unemployed, the working poor" and a Coalition "government that presents itself as being responsible in its spending, determined to return the budget to the black, eliminate waste and take a forward but steady approach to the broader social issues, such as climate change", ultimately describing Morrison a "safer pair of hands".


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Sunday editions
Both the Nine Publishing newspapers (Melbourne's The Sunday Age and Sydney's The Sun-Herald) stopped short of endorsing a party, with The Sunday Age calling for bipartisan action on climate change. The Sun-Herald praised Morrison as "the former advertising executive has come into his own, appearing more sure-footed and on message than in the early days of his as leader" but warned that "his single-focus strategy needs some enhancement if he has a chance of pulling off victory", while contrasting it with Labor which has "overwhelmed us with its vision and plans. The party presents itself as a viable alternative government, with bold policy announcements across a variety of sectors, but they carry some risk for the disadvantage they may cause to some sections of the electorate. It runs the risk of hubris should reality not conform with voter expectations".


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Sunday editions
Seven West Media's newspaper (Perth's The Sunday Times) also made no endorsement, but urged readers not to give the balance of power to "micro parties with wacky, divisive and extreme agendas".


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Daily editions
The majority of News Corp Australia's daily mastheads – The Australian, Sydney's The Daily Telegraph, Melbourne's Herald Sun, Brisbane's The Courier-Mail, Adelaide's The Advertiser and the Geelong Advertiser – endorsed the Coalition. The Australian wrote that "Mr Morrison’s plan errs on the side of being safe but deliverable; his policies, consistent with traditional values, do not unduly raise expectations as Mr Shorten has done".


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Daily editions
Hobart's The Mercury stopped short of endorsing a party, remarking that with "polls indicating that a hung Parliament remains a possible scenario ... having [Independent candidate for Clark, Andrew] Wilkie advocating for Tasmania in Canberra would not be a terrible outcome". In Darwin, the NT News endorsed Labor, arguing the Morrison Government had "shown little to no interest" in Aboriginal affairs, an issue "which seriously threatens the future prosperity of the Northern Territory and Australia".


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Daily editions
Two of Nine Publishing's mastheads – The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne's The Age endorsed Labor. The Sydney Morning Herald called for voters to bring an end to the "cycle of instability". It emphasised Shorten's "united team that looks like it will stick together", and contrasted this with the "blood feuds" within the Coalition cabinet, stating that "the ALP has used its time in the wilderness of opposition to sort out its factional differences and produce an unusually detailed agreed program".


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Daily editions
It expressed doubts with some aspects of Labor's economic policy, warning that "with the economy facing headwinds, people want solid, sensible government – not a revolution." It concluded that if Labor could overcome economic challenges and deliver "three years of normal government... it will be better than a continuation of instability under the Coalition". While critical of its stance on climate change and energy policy, its broadsheet The Australian Financial Review endorsed the Coalition, arguing the party "does at least grasp that Australia needs a growth policy in order to lift incomes and sustainably pay for the services government provides".


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Daily editions
The Guardian Australia also endorsed Labor, arguing that "the climate emergency is the most pressing issue of our time" and that "the Coalition appears deaf to the rising clamour from the electorate...[while] it clings to an obviously deficient emissions reduction target". Concluding that "the Coalition has neither credible policies nor a competent team", it finds that "Labor is the only party with a credible climate policy and a chance of forming government", but also giving qualified support to The Greens as its "climate policy is more ambitious than Labor’s and its tax and spending policies more redistributive". It also wrote positively of "credible independent candidates who could make positive contributions in the parliament".


2019 Australian federal election, Newspaper endorsements, Daily editions
In Perth, the Seven West Media-owned The West Australian endorsed the Coalition as having "proved they will listen to Western Australia with their historic shakeup of the GST", and commending the Western Australian Liberal Party for "a proven track record of being powerful advocates for [the] state". The Canberra Times provided no endorsement, but concluded that the choice between the two major parties was "for changes that may benefit [Canberrans] personally" or "for change that has the potential to benefit those less fortunate than they are".


2019 Australian federal election, Aftermath and reactions, Domestic reactions
Morrison stated that "the quiet Australians ... have won a great victory tonight". Although he described the outcome as a miracle, colleagues said that Morrison had been certain that he would win the election, unlike many other politicians.


2019 Australian federal election, Aftermath and reactions, Domestic reactions
Following the results Shorten announced his resignation as leader of the Labor Party, triggering the 2019 Australian Labor Party leadership election. Former Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who ran in the October 2013 spill, announced his candidacy, and was elected unopposed to the role later that month. Albanese's path to the leadership was cleared after Chris Bowen, Shadow Treasurer in the Shorten Ministry and a member of the more fiscally-conservative Labor Right, withdrew his candidacy shortly after nominating.


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums
The Australian federal election debates of 2019 were a series of leaders' debates between the leaders of the two main parties contesting the 2019 Australian federal election: Scott Morrison, Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party; and Bill Shorten, Leader of the Opposition and Labor Party.


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 29 April – The 7NEWS Leaders' Debate
The first leaders' debate was held in Perth, Western Australia on 29 April 2019. The debate was run by Seven West Media, and broadcast on the Seven Network's secondary free-to-air channel, 7TWO. It was hosted by Basil Zempilas and moderated by Seven News political editor Mark Riley and Lanai Scarr from The West Australian newspaper. Morrison and Shorten started with an opening address, then were guided to give their views on the topics of climate change, wages growth, immigration and border security, Clive Palmer, franking credits, and finally a closing statement.


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 29 April – The 7NEWS Leaders' Debate
Of the 48 audience members, 25 voted that Shorten had won the debate, 12 that Morrison had won, with 11 undecided. SBS World News said that Morrison had swayed the audience with his questioning of the lack of detailed costings for Labor's climate change policies, but that Shorten had performed better on climate change in general, and by highlighting the Coalition's preference deal with Clive Palmer's United Australia Party.


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 29 April – The 7NEWS Leaders' Debate
The format of the debate was criticised by other media outlets and viewers on social media. Katherine Murphy of Guardian Australia called it "beyond terrible", citing the split-screen broadcast which showed the leaders on screen at all times. news.com.au compiled a list of viewers' complaints about the debate's "weird" format and lack of clear direction.


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 29 April – The 7NEWS Leaders' Debate
RMIT ABC Fact Check gave their verdicts on the veracity of some of the claims made on the night, including Morrison's statements on  hospital funding ("fair call"), Kyoto Protocol targets ("misleading"), and boat arrivals ("more to the story"); and Shorten's statements on the costs of seeing a doctor ("broadly checked out"), the number of apprenticeships and traineeships ("correct") and broadband speed ("correct").


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 3 May – Sky News Australia
The second leaders' debate was held at The Gabba in Brisbane, Queensland on 3 May. The debate was aired on Sky News Australia and hosted by David Speers. The leaders were asked questions by a crowd of 109 undecided voters. They answered questions concerning tax plans, mental health, education, religious freedom, and climate change. They then gave a closing statement.


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 3 May – Sky News Australia
43% of audience members said Shorten won the debate, while 41% said Morrison had won.


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 3 May – Sky News Australia
In one heated moment, Morrison physically approached the Opposition Leader to question him on tax policy. Shorten noted Morrison's movements, saying: "You right there? You're a classic space invader," which was received with laughter from the audience. This was widely reported, with some outlets likening it to former Labor leader Mark Latham's infamous handshake with Prime Minister John Howard during the 2004 election campaign. When questioned about the incident, Morrison said: "Bill Shorten doesn't like it when you look him in the eye and ask him to tell you the truth. I was simply trying encourage him to tell the truth and to look me in the eye and tell me the truth and he couldn't do that either. He scurried away."


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 3 May – Sky News Australia
RMIT ABC Fact Check gave their verdicts on the veracity of some of the claims made on the night, including Morrison's statements on capital gains and negative gearing ("misleading"), franking credits ("misleading"), and carbon emissions ("misleading"); and Shorten's statements on social media ("wishful thinking"), apprenticeships and traineeships ("correct"), health ("correct"), carbon emissions ("broadly correct"), and wage growth ("correct").


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 8 May – National Press Club
The third and final leaders' debate was held at the National Press Club in Canberra. The debate was aired on ABC and Sky News Live and moderated by NPC president Sabra Lane. The studio audience was split half-and-half between Labor and Liberal supporters, and as such there was no audience polling for the debate. The leaders were asked questions regarding unpopular decisions they had made in political life, the respective leadership spills they had each participated in against sitting Prime Ministers, budget deficits, franking credits, religion freedom and freedom of speech, climate change policy, and national security.


2019 Australian federal election debates and forums, Leaders' debates, 8 May – National Press Club
The leaders were also permitted to ask each other two questions during the debate. Morrison asked Shorten about tax policy and negative gearing, while Shorten asked Morrison about his support for Labor's cancer plan and about Morrison's childcare policy. Finally, they were asked about their vision for the country in ten years' time. They were then asked a simple "yes or no" question about whether they supported the creation of an independent debate commission for the next election; both leaders responded in the affirmative.


2019 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2019 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix was the seventeenth round of the 2019 MotoGP season. It was held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Phillip Island on 27 October 2019.


2019 Austria Open
The 2019 Dynamic Billard St. Johann im Pongau Open was a professional nine-ball pool tournament and the third Euro Tour event of 2019. The event was held from 13 to 16 June 2019, at the Alpina, Wellness & Sporthotel in Sankt Johann im Pongau, Austria. The event followed the Treviso Open, won by Poland's Konrad Juszczyszyn, and preceded the Veldhoven Open.


2019 Austria Open
The St. Johann im Pongau Open final was contested between the top two ranked players, Eklent Kaçi and Joshua Filler. Kaçi won the event, defeating Filler 9–6. Alexander Kazakis was the defending champion, having defeated Denis Grabe in the 2018 Austria Open final (9–5). However, Kazakis lost twice in the double-elimination round and did not reach the knockout round. Jasmin Ouschan was the defending champion of the women's event, after defeating Marharyta Fefilava in the 2018 final (7–2). In a rematch of the previous year's event, Ouschan defended her championship by defeating Fefilava 7–1 in this year's final.


2019 Austria Open, Format
The St. Johann im Pongau Open was played as a double-elimination knockout tournament, until the round of 32. From that point on, the event continued as a single elimination bracket. All matches were played as a race-to-nine-racks under the alternative break format. The event had a total of 196 players competing in the double elimination round. The women's event had 49 participants in a different double-elimination bracket until the round of 16, also continuing as a single elimination tournament form.


2019 Austria Open, Format
The previous years' women's champion Jasmin Ouschan competed in both the men's and women's event.


2019 Austria Open, Format, Prize fund
The tournament prize fund was similar to that of other Euro Tour events; €4,500 was awarded to the winner of the event.


2019 Austria Open, Summary
The event began on 13 June 2019. Matches were played on 24 tables, across the Alpina Alpendorf & Sporthotel Pre-event, International Billiard Promotion Foundation (IPBF) president David Morris signed a contract with venue owner Theo Riedlecke for the event to be held in the resort for the following three years. Matches were broadcast live via the Euro Tour website, with some matches streamed via Facebook and pool website Kozoom. The event also had guest commentary for matches by players such as Joshua Filler. The defending champion was Alexander Kazakis, after defeating Denis Grabe 9–5 in the previous year's final.


2019 Austria Open, Summary, Double-elimination
The double-elimination round began with 196 participants; players were eliminated after losing two matches. On the first day, multiple time champion, Thorsten Hohmann was defeated by Niels Feijen. Feijen took an early 3–1 lead, despite both players making errors. Feijen then extended his advantage to lead 7–2. Both players made a golden break before Feijen won rack 12 to defeat Hohmann 9–3. Hohmann failed to progress to the knockout round, being eliminated in the third losers' round to Sanjin Pehlivanovic 9–2. Fifth-ranked Mark Gray also lost on the first day to Fabio Petroni.


2019 Austria Open, Summary, Double-elimination
Petroni and Gray remained level at 3–3 before Petroni won six of the next seven racks to progress 9–4. Gray would be defeated again in the third losers' round, 9–4 to Alex Montpellier to be eliminated. Three-time world champion Oliver Ortmann was also defeated by Imran Majid 2–9, before being eliminated in the second losers' round to Mariusz Skoneczny.


2019 Austria Open, Summary, Double-elimination
Defending champion Kazakis also failed to qualify for the round of 32. He lost his second match to Damianos Giallourakis 9–7. He then defeated Nick Malai on a deciding rack 9–8 in the losers' fourth round. In his decisive play-off match, Kazakis lost to Daniel Maciol 9–6, and he was thus eliminated.


2019 Austria Open, Summary, Knockout
The last 32 players competed on a single elimination bracket, with the round-of-32 played on 14 June. The top two ranked players Eklent Kaçi and Joshua Filler both qualified for the round-of-16, with wins over David Alcaide and Christian Froehlich respectively. Third-ranked Mateusz Śniegocki was defeated by 55th ranked Tim De Ruyter 6–9. Wojciech Szewczyk qualified for the round-of-16 after completing a whitewash of Stefan Huber.


2019 Austria Open, Summary, Knockout
The round-of-16 to the final was played on 15 June. Two round-of-16 matches were decided on a final rack: Ralf Souquet defeated Radosław Babica and Kaçi defeated Wojciech Szewczyk, both 9–8. Mario He, who missed the 2019 Leende Open due to a drugs offence, was ranked seventh for the tournament because he had two tournament wins in 2018. He defeated Marc Bijsterbosch in the round-of-16, 9–1. In the quarter-finals, He lost to Giallourakis, who reached his first Euro Tour semi-final. Elsewhere, the two Treviso Open finalists Ivo Aarts and Konrad Juszczyszyn lost to Filler and Kaçi respectively. In the semi-finals, Kaçi defeated Souquet 9–5 and Filler defeated Giallourakis 9–6; both reaching the final.


2019 Austria Open, Summary, Knockout
In the final, the two highest ranked players for the tournament faced each other. Kaçi had finished as the runner up in both the 2018 Veldhoven Open and the 2018 Leende Open, ending up as the highest in the rankings. Filler having won the 2019 Leende Open and was ranked second. The winner of the final would take the first place in the Euro Tour rankings. The final started with racks being won in line with the break, until Kaçi took a 3–2 lead. However, Filler brought the match to 5–5, before Kaçi went ahead again at 7–5.


2019 Austria Open, Summary, Knockout
Filler won the next rack, but Kaçi won the next to take him to the hill at 8–6. Breaking to remain in the match, Filler's attempt was illegal, handing the table to Kaçi, who ran the rack to win the match 9–6. As a result, Kaçi remained the number one Euro Tour player, and Filler retained his second place.


2019 Austria Open, Women's event
The women's event took place on 15 and 16 June 2019, with matches being held as a race-to-seven racks; 49 players participated. The defending champion was Jasmin Ouschan, who won the previous year's event, defeating Marharyta Fefilava in the final 7–2. Kristina Tkach, ranked first in the Euro Tour women's ranking, did not appear at the event. The double-elimination round started on 15 June, with 16 players qualifying for the knockout round. Despite not competing since 2016, Kamila Khodjaeva won all three of her opening matches, including wins over Kinga Rauk, Ewa Bak and Fefilava to reach the knockout round.


2019 Austria Open, Women's event
After reaching the round of 16, the event continued as a single elimination tournament. Ouschan defeated Ana Gradišnik 7–1, Ina Kaplan 7–1, and Sara Rocha 7–5 to reach the final. Fefilawa also reached the final, defeating Pia Filler 7–3, Monika Margeta 7–5, and Veronika Hubrtova 7–4. The same players faced each other as the 2018 final; Ouschan defeated Fafilawa to win her 14th Euro Tour title. Fefilawa won the opening rack despite missing the 9-ball, but lost the remaining racks and ultimately finished at 1–7. After the victory, Ouschan said: "I feel really comfortable here, although playing in Austria always means a bit more pressure for me ... My success story here in St. Johann is something very special."


2019 Austria Open, Results, Men's event
Below is the results from the round of 32 (Last 32) onward with positions were determined by performance in the double elimination round. Players in bold denote match winners:


2019 Austria Open, Results, Women's event
The following results are from the knockout stages following the round of 16 (Last 16). Players in bold denote match winners:


2019 Austrian Darts Championship
The 2019 Austrian Darts Championship was the tenth of thirteen PDC European Tour events on the 2019 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place at the Multiversum Schwechat, Vienna, Austria, from 30 August–1 September 2019. It featured a field of 48 players and £140,000 in prize money, with £25,000 going to the winner.


2019 Austrian Darts Championship
Mensur Suljović won his third European Tour title, and his first in his home country, with an 8–7 win against Michael van Gerwen in the final.


2019 Austrian Darts Championship, Qualification and format
The top 16 entrants from the PDC ProTour Order of Merit on 11 June will automatically qualify for the event and will be seeded in the second round.


2019 Austrian Darts Championship, Qualification and format
The remaining 32 places will go to players from six qualifying events – 18 from the UK Tour Card Holder Qualifier (held on 21 June), six from the European Tour Card Holder Qualifier (held on 21 June), two from the West & South European Associate Member Qualifier (held on 29 August), four from the Host Nation Qualifier (held on 29 August), one from the Nordic & Baltic Qualifier (held on 9 March), and one from the East European Qualifier (held on 24 August).


2019 Austrian Darts Championship, Qualification and format
From 2019, the Host Nation, Nordic & Baltic and East European Qualifiers will only be available to non-Tour Card holders. Any Tour Card holders from the applicable regions will have to play the main European Qualifier.


2019 Austrian Darts Championship, Qualification and format
Corey Cadby withdrew prior to the tournament, which meant an extra place was made available in the Host Nation Qualifier.


2019 Austrian Darts Open
The 2019 Austrian Darts Open was the fifth of thirteen PDC European Tour events on the 2019 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place at Steiermarkhalle, Premstätten, Austria, from 3–5 May 2019. It featured a field of 48 players and £140,000 in prize money, with £25,000 going to the winner.


2019 Austrian Darts Open
Jonny Clayton was the defending champion after defeating Gerwyn Price 8–5 in the final of the 2018 tournament, but he was defeated 6–2 in the second round by Tytus Kanik.


2019 Austrian Darts Open
Michael van Gerwen won his third Austrian Darts Open title (and his 32nd in total on the European Tour) with an 8–7 win over Ian White in the final.


2019 Austrian Darts Open, Qualification and format
The top 16 entrants from the PDC ProTour Order of Merit on 4 April will automatically qualify for the event and will be seeded in the second round.


2019 Austrian Darts Open, Qualification and format
The remaining 32 places will go to players from six qualifying events – 18 from the UK Tour Card Holder Qualifier (held on 12 April), six from the European Tour Card Holder Qualifier (held on 12 April), two from the West & South European Associate Member Qualifier (held on 2 May), four from the Host Nation Qualifier (held on 2 May), one from the Nordic & Baltic Associate Member Qualifier (held on 1 February) and one from the East European Associate Member Qualifier (held on 9 March).


2019 Austrian Darts Open, Qualification and format
From 2019, the Host Nation, Nordic & Baltic and East European Qualifiers will only be available to non-tour card holders. Any tour card holders from the applicable regions will have to play the main European Qualifier.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix
The 2019 Austrian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 myWorld Großer Preis von Österreich 2019) was a Formula One motor race held on 30 June 2019 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. The race was the 9th round of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race marked the 33rd running of the Austrian Grand Prix and the 32nd time it had been held as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the series inception in 1950. The victory of Max Verstappen in the Red Bull Racing RB15 was the first win for a Honda-powered F1 car since Jenson Button in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix and he also became the first non-Mercedes driver to win a race in 2019.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Background, Championship standings before the race
Heading into the race Lewis Hamilton had a 36-point advantage over team mate Valtteri Bottas in the Drivers' Championship. In the Constructors' Championship  Mercedes held a 140-point advantage over Ferrari.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Background, Entrants
The drivers and teams entered were the same as those on the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for either the race or practice.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Background, Penalties
Prior to the start of the weekend Carlos Sainz Jr. and Alexander Albon exceeded their quotas for power unit components and were required to start from the back of the grid. Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen received five-place grid penalties for exceeding their quota for power unit components and for a gearbox change, respectively.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Free practice
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in first practice with Sebastian Vettel second. Valtteri Bottas was third ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fourth. Second practice was eventful as Vettel spun and both Bottas and Max Verstappen crashed. Leclerc was fastest ahead of Bottas, Pierre Gasly and Hamilton. In third practice Leclerc was fastest again ahead of Hamilton, Bottas and Vettel.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Race, Race summary
Whilst Charles Leclerc started the race well from pole position, Max Verstappen encountered an issue with his anti-stall, dropping from 2nd down to 8th place by turn 2. Lando Norris briefly battled Lewis Hamilton for 3rd place, and Kimi Räikkönen ran as high as 4th. Räikkönen held the position until lap 7, when he was passed by Sebastian Vettel, who had started 9th. By lap 9, Verstappen had recovered after his poor start, passing Räikkönen and Norris.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Race, Race summary
Kevin Magnussen pitted on lap 12, dropping him to the back, but was handed a drive-through penalty soon afterwards after the stewards found he had over-stepped his grid line at the beginning of the race and started too far forward. He would only recover one place during the race, and eventually crossed the finish line in 19th.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Race, Race summary
Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel pitted on lap 22, with Bottas emerging in clear air in 4th, but with Vettel stuck behind Norris, Räikkönen and Pierre Gasly in 8th after a communication issue saw his pit-stop take longer than expected. Leclerc pitted on the following lap, handing the lead of the race to Hamilton. At this stage of the race, the Mercedes cars were suffering from the high air and track temperatures. Hamilton repeatedly ran wide at turn 1, driving over the sausage kerb. This eventually caused damage to his front wing, forcing him to pit for a replacement on lap 31 and dropping him to 5th place. Verstappen inherited the lead, but pitted on the following lap; Leclerc thus regained 1st place.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Race, Race summary
Verstappen emerged from the pits in 4th place, and began his charge towards the front. He passed Vettel on Lap 50, on the straight after turn 2. Vettel subsequently pitted on the following lap. Verstappen then passed Bottas into turn 2 on lap 56. Finally, he caught up with Leclerc at the front, passing him into turn 2 with three laps to go. On lap 69, Verstappen took a wide line through the corner on the inside of Leclerc, making contact and resulting in Leclerc leaving the track and driving over the kerb. Verstappen held on to his lead until the chequered flag, and the stewards later deemed his overtake legal. Vettel passed Hamilton on the final lap to take 4th place.


2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Race, Race summary
Verstappen's victory marked the first win for a Honda-powered F1 car since Jenson Button in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. The race was also the first race in the season not to be won by a Mercedes driver, as Valtteri Bottas finished in third and Lewis Hamilton fifth. Antonio Giovinazzi scored his first ever career points in Formula One by finishing tenth place. This also marked the first race in which every driver saw the chequered flag since the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix.


2019 Austrian legislative election
Legislative elections were held in Austria on 29 September 2019 to elect the 27th National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament. The snap election was called in the wake of the Ibiza affair in May, which caused the resignation of Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and the collapse of the governing coalition of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The government subsequently lost a motion of no confidence in parliament, and ÖVP Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was replaced by non-partisan Brigitte Bierlein on an interim basis.


2019 Austrian legislative election
The conservative ÖVP achieved its best result since 2002, improving its vote share six percentage points. The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) won just 21.2%, its worst result in over a century. The FPÖ suffered a substantial loss of almost ten points. The Greens re-entered the National Council after falling out in 2017, and achieved their best ever result with 13.9% and 26 seats. NEOS improved from 2017, rising from 10 to 15 seats.


2019 Austrian legislative election
With the ÖVP in a clear position to lead the new government, it held talks with all other parties. By early November, a coalition with The Greens was seen as the most likely outcome. Negotiations continued through December, and on 1 January, ÖVP leader Kurz and Greens leader Werner Kogler announced the formation of a coalition government between their two parties. The government was sworn in on 7 January 2020 as Second Kurz government, with Sebastian Kurz returning as Chancellor and Kogler taking office as Vice Chancellor.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background
The 2017 legislative election was called four years into a grand coalition between the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), prompted by the demand of newly elected ÖVP leader Sebastian Kurz for a snap election. Although the SPÖ won 52 seats, as it did in the 2013 election, the ÖVP and FPÖ both made large gains, increasing their strength by 15 seats to 62 and by 11 to 51, respectively, making the former the largest party at the federal level. The Peter Pilz List entered the National Council with 8 seats, while the NEOS gained one seat and the Greens lost all of their 24 seats because they failed to clear the 4% threshold of the vote, which is required to qualify for the proportional allocation of seats.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background
Following the election, President Alexander Van der Bellen asked Kurz to form the next government, and the ÖVP initiated exploratory talks with the other parties represented in the National Council. The ÖVP officially started coalition negotiations with the FPÖ on 25 October 2017, agreeing on a five-point roadmap. Negotiations drew towards a close in late November, and the parties announced a coalition agreement on 15 December, with the coalition government led by Kurz sworn in on 18 December.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background
On 4 November 2017, Peter Pilz announced that he would not take his seat, following accusations of sexual harassment. On 11 June 2018, Pilz returned to the National Council and was sworn in after charges of sexual harassment were dropped by the state prosecution. His return was made possible by the resignation of another member of the National Council, Peter Kolba, who stepped down after significant disputes within the List Pilz. The swearing-in ceremony of Pilz was met with heavy resistance. Almost all female representatives walked out of the parliament room as he was about to take the oath.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background
On 7 May 2018, Matthias Strolz announced that he would step down as leader of NEOS and hand over the party leadership in June, citing personal reasons and a successful period for the party since it was founded in 2012, with steady electoral gains during his term. On 23 June 2018, party delegates elected Beate Meinl-Reisinger as their new leader in a meeting that took place in Vienna.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background
On 20 August 2018, Maria Stern was elected new party leader of the List Pilz during a party meeting in Vienna. Participants also agreed to rename the list, for which a PR agency was hired. On 19 November 2018, the List Pilz presented their new name: "JETZT" (or "NOW", in English).


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background
On 18 September 2018, opposition leader Christian Kern announced that he would resign as leader of the Austrian Social Democrats. Four days later, former Minister of Health Pamela Rendi-Wagner was designated as the new chairwoman of the Social Democratic Party. She was officially confirmed as party leader through a delegate vote at a party convention held on 24 November 2018. Rendi-Wagner is the first female leader of the SPÖ.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background, Ibiza affair and snap election announcement
On 17 May 2019, a secretly recorded video was published of a July 2017 meeting in Ibiza, Spain, which appeared to show the then opposition politicians Heinz-Christian Strache and Johann Gudenus discussing their party's underhanded practices and intentions. In the video, both politicians appeared receptive to proposals by a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch, discussing providing the FPÖ positive news coverage in return for government contracts. Strache and Gudenus also hinted at corrupt political practices involving other wealthy donors to the FPÖ in Europe and elsewhere.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background, Ibiza affair and snap election announcement
On 18 May, Strache announced that he would resign as FPÖ leader and vice chancellor, with Norbert Hofer replacing him as FPÖ leader.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background, Ibiza affair and snap election announcement
On 19 May, Kurz tore up the coalition agreement and announced his intention to seek a snap election in September with President Alexander Van der Bellen also signalling an election early that month. Just eight days later, the Kurz government was toppled in the first successful no-confidence vote in modern Austrian history.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background, Ibiza affair and snap election announcement
On 3 June, Brigitte Bierlein and her independent technocratic interim government was sworn into office by President Alexander Van der Bellen. Her government consisted of 12 members, instead of the 16 in the first Kurz government.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Background, Ibiza affair and snap election announcement
On 12 June 2019, the election date was eventually set for 29 September with the votes of SPÖ and FPÖ, while the ÖVP was opposed, having favoured an early September poll date instead. The prevailing view was that the snap election should not be held during the summer holiday season, and that it should not coincide with state elections in Vorarlberg, to be held on 13 October 2019.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Electoral system
The 183 members of the National Council are elected by open list proportional representation at the level of one federal constituency consisting of all of Austria, 9 state constituencies, and 39 regional constituencies. Seats in the National Council are apportioned to the regional constituencies based on the results of the most recent census. Following elections, seats are allocated to the candidates of successful parties and lists in a three-stage process: from regional constituencies to state constituencies to the federal constituency.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Electoral system
For parties to receive any representation in the National Council, they must either win at least one seat in a constituency directly, or clear a 4 percent national electoral threshold. Seats are distributed according to the Hare method in the first two stages, at the level of regional and state constituencies, with any remaining seats allocated using the D'Hondt method at the federal level, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's national vote share and its share of parliamentary seats.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Electoral system
Deviations from near-perfect proportionality can nevertheless occur when a smaller party fails to clear the 4% hurdle and receives no seats, a fate the Green Party suffered in 2017. The rationale for the threshold is to discourage parties from splintering, and thereby prevent parliament from fragmenting into numerous small parties, which would complicate coalition formation in the first instance, and would undermine their stability once they are formed.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Electoral system
In addition to voting for a political party, voters may cast three preferential votes for specific candidates of that party, but are not required to do so. These additional votes do not affect the proportional allocation based on the vote for the party or list, but can change the rank order of candidates on a party's lists at the federal, state, and regional level. The threshold to increase the position of a candidate on a federal party list is 7 percent, compared to 10 percent at the state level, and 14 percent at the regional level.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Electoral system
The names of candidates on regional party lists are printed on the ballot and can be marked with an "x" to indicate the voter's preference. Preference votes for candidates on party lists at the state and federal level, however, must be written in by the voter, either by writing the name or the rank number of the candidate in a blank spot provided for that purpose. Austria still uses paper ballots, rather than electronic voting machines or online voting.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Electoral system
Because the names of candidates on the regional lists are printed on the ballot, and because more parties and lists compete today than was the case in earlier decades of the Second Republic, today's ballots are much larger in size than was the case before the introduction of preferential voting. Voting by placing an "x" in the circle provided next to party name on the top of the ballot, or marking a specific candidate name on the regional list of a party at the bottom, is the most common method, but other markings other than "x" are also allowed. A voter may not cross party-lines to cast a preference vote for a candidate of another party, however. Such preference votes are invalid.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Electoral system, Date
Per Article 26 and 27 of the Federal Constitutional Law, the National Council must be convened by the President no later than 30 days after the most recent election. The standard duration of the legislative period of the National Council is five years, by the end of which it must be renewed through an election on a Sunday or a public holiday. Because the inaugural meeting of the 26th National Council took place on 9 November 2017, as determined by President Alexander Van der Bellen, the latest date on which the next legislative election could have been held would be 6 November 2022.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Contesting parties
The table below lists parties represented in the 26th National Council.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Contesting parties, Ballot access requirements
In order to contest the election nationwide, a party (or list) must have the support of three members of parliament or collect 2,600 valid signatures from eligible voters ahead of the elections.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Contesting parties, Ballot access requirements
Parties may contest the election in individual states only, if they so chose. To do so, they must submit a minimum number of voter signatures that varies by state as follows:


2019 Austrian legislative election, Contesting parties, Ballot access requirements
For the 2019 elections, parties had less than a month (9 July and 2 August) to collect signatures. The state and federal election commissions then validated the signatures and announced the list of parties that qualified.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Contesting parties, Parties that collected enough signatures
In addition to the parties already represented in the National Council, eight parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. Three of these were cleared to be on the ballot in all states, five of them only in some.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Contesting parties, Failed to achieve ballot access
Another eight parties or lists sought ballot access, but failed to collect enough signatures to meet the 2 August 2019 deadline.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Results, Preference votes
Alongside votes for a party, voters were able to cast a preferential votes for a candidate on the party list. The ten candidates with the most preferential votes on a federal level were as follows:


2019 Austrian legislative election, Results, Maps
Map showing the results of the election on the sub-constituency level


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation
Although the ÖVP under Sebastian Kurz won a large plurality, it came up 21 seats short of a majority and thus needed the support of a junior partner in order to return Kurz to the chancellorship. Several coalition options were mathematically possible based on the distribution of parliamentary seats among the other parties, which reflected their respective shares of the vote.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation
The Green Party achieved their best electoral results ever, in part at the expense of the SPÖ, and was viewed as a potentially viable coalition partner, although such a conservative-green alliance would have unprecedented at the national level in Austria and would have required compromise on policy positions by both sides.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, Exploratory coalition talks
President Van der Bellen met with Kurz on Monday, 7 October 2019 to charge him with the task of forming a new government. Kurz had committed himself to hold talks with all parties. The Green Party leadership had already voted in favor of exploratory talks, and had avoided setting preconditions, though as of 29 September, a coalition with the ÖVP was backed by only 1/3 of Green party members. The Green Party leader, Werner Kogler, is a veteran of coalition talks with the ÖVP that failed on an earlier occasion after the 2002 election. However, 4 in 10 ÖVP voters prefer FPÖ, whereas only 1 in 5 could imagine cooperation with the Green Party. The party leaders of SPÖ, FPÖ and NEOS also agreed to take part in the exploratory talks, which are the first step to form a new government.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, Exploratory coalition talks
After the conclusion of the first round of talks, the FPÖ told Kurz that they would not continue the exploratory talks, but would consider re-entering negotiations should talks with other parties fail. Another round of exploratory talks with SPÖ, the Greens, and NEOS was then scheduled for Thursday, 17 October and Friday, 18 October.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Vorarlberg
Meanwhile, regional elections to the state legislature were held in Vorarlberg, Austria's westernmost constituent Bundesland (state) on 13 October 2019. The outcome of the election to this state legislature was closely watched because it came on the heels of the National Council elections, and because the state had already established a precedent for a workable conservative-green coalition government at the sub-national level in the previous election cycle.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Vorarlberg
Based on the final election results, all parties represented in the Vorarlberg state legislature increased their share of the vote - except for the scandal-plagued FPÖ, which sustained heavy losses, just as it did in the national parliamentary elections two weeks earlier. With 18.9% of the vote, the Greens emerged as the second-largest party after the ÖVP, which garnered 43.5%. Based on the final election results, four parties represented in the 36-seat state legislature prior to the election gained one additional seat each, all at the expense of the FPÖ, which lost four.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Vorarlberg
As is the case at the federal level, coalition talks were held to determine the composition of the new government. A renewal of the ÖVP-Green coalition was the most likely outcome after Governor Markus Wallner (ÖVP) invited the Greens once again to in-depth talks following a round of talks with other party leaders. The coalition negotiations between ÖVP and Greens were finalized on 5 November 2019, and the new Vorarlberg government was sworn in on 6 November.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Vorarlberg
Kurz set a deadline for 8 November for exploratory talks with the Greens to end. Previously, SPÖ and NEOS broke off talks with Kurz and told him they are only available for direct coalition talks. Kurz then agreed to schedule four more rounds of in-depth exploratory talks with the Green Party and told the media that he plans a decision about formal coalition talks for the days after 8 November.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Vorarlberg
After the final round of talks between ÖVP and Greens on 8 November, the Greens announced a party meeting for Sunday, 10 November and scheduled a subsequent vote on the approval of coalition talks with the ÖVP. Kurz announced that he would talk with key ÖVP party members, such as state governors, over the weekend and await a decision by the Greens before announcing his own decision. According to a poll by broadcaster ATV, published on 8 November, public support for a ÖVP-Green coalition increased to 55%, with 36% opposed. Among Green Party voters only, support rose to 96%, while among ÖVP voters only, 61% supported such a coalition, with 33% opposed. Support was also high among voters from the liberal NEOS (79%) and the SPÖ (68%), with opposition only coming from the FPÖ (71%).


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, Formal coalition negotiations at the federal level
After conferring with numerous ÖVP leaders around the country by phone over the weekend, Kurz announced his party's unity in favor of formal coalition negotiations with the Greens, rather than with the Social Democrats. He cited government stability as a key consideration for the choice, but cautioned that the outcome was still uncertain. Although unprecedented in Austria at the federal level, the idea of a coalition between the Christian-Democrats with the Greens was disproportionately favored by voters under 30 in both parties.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, Formal coalition negotiations at the federal level
Austria's younger generation has greater political clout than elsewhere because the voting age was lowered to 16, thus increasing their demographic share of the electorate. Born in 1986, Sebastian Kurz himself was one of the youngest heads of government on a global level when he first became Federal Chancellor in 2017.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, Formal coalition negotiations at the federal level
A Kurz-Kogler meeting was scheduled for Tuesday morning, 12 November 2019. Green leaders had unanimously approved opening coalition negotiations at a party meeting on Sunday. Kogler was quoted as saying that "our hand is extended to the ÖVP" but acknowledged that this undertaking had its risks. Major topics on which the two ideologically disparate parties had to strive to reach common ground are migration (refugees/immigration/integration), education, the economy, and transparency in government.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, Formal coalition negotiations at the federal level
President Van der Bellen and NEOS welcomed the breakthrough announced by Kurz Monday morning, while the FPÖ criticized him for "delivering Austria to the Greens". The SPÖ called for government formation to finish quickly. Kurz had not offered any particular reason why a coalition with the SPÖ had been rejected.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, Formal coalition negotiations at the federal level
The prospect of Austria being governed by a coalition of conservatives and greens was a novel development on the western European political landscape at a national level, and was watched with anticipation from the outside.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, Formal coalition negotiations at the federal level
On 15 November, ÖVP and Greens decided to create a negotiation team of more than 100 people combined, to negotiate in 6 major groups and 36 sub-groups, discussing different policy areas and issues. Group leaders from the two parties were named to oversee the comprehensive talks, which started on Monday, 18 November, involving all sub-groups.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, Formal coalition negotiations at the federal level
On 17 November, Hofer indicated he would say yes to a coalition agreement with Kurz.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Styria
On  Sunday, 24 November 2019, legislative elections were held in Styria, Austria's fourth-largest state by population. The ÖVP won a resounding victory at the expense of both the Social Democrats and the FPÖ, which had done very well in the Styrian election of 2015. The ÖVP managed to re-establish itself as the historically dominant political force in the state. The Greens exceeded 10% of the vote statewide for the first time in history. With 6% the Communists did better than the NEOS who received 5%, but the NEOS had ground to celebrate nonetheless because they won enough votes to enter the Landtag for the first time, and with two seats.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Styria
Based on preliminary data reported as of 1700 on polling day, the breakdown by party is as follows: ÖVP 36.61% - SPÖ 22.89%  - FPÖ 17.94%  - GRÜNE 11.43%  - KPÖ 6.02%  - NEOS  5.10%. The Greens did exceptionally well in Graz, Styria's capital, which is also the stronghold of the Communist Party, a unique facet in Styrian politics.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Styria
Styria uses a slightly different version of PR to convert vote shares into seats than is used for elections to the national parliament. There is no 4% threshold. Instead, a party must win at least one seat (Grundmandat) by meeting a certain numerical requirement (Wahlzahl). Rather than being fixed, the number of votes necessary to meet this quota varies because it is computed based on all valid ballots cast in a district and the number of mandates allocated to that district.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Styria
For the purpose of Landtag elections, Styria is divided into four districts (Wahlkreise) of unequal size, to which mandates (corresponding to seats in the Landtag) are apportioned based on the most recent census. The number of mandates per district is known going into the election, but the Wahlzahl is not known because it is affected by turnout, which this time was low by historical standards. As in national elections, the voting age is 16. Austria is an international outlier in giving youth in 16-18 age range the right to vote, and thus a stake in the political game and an ability to help shape their country's future. Voting used to be compulsory in several states, including, Styria, but that is no longer the case.


2019 Austrian legislative election, Government formation, State elections in Styria
At the end of election day, the provisional distribution of seats in the 48-seat  was projected as follows: ÖVP 18 seats (+4), SPÖ 12 (-3), FPÖ 8 (-6), GRÜNE 6 (+3), KPÖ 2 (no change), NEOS 2 (+2). After all ballots were counted (including postal votes and those cast by voters outside their precincts using a voting card available for that purpose) one mandate that was projected for the Communists shifted to the SPÖ, whose leader had already resigned, following his party's sharp drop in voter support. The Communists and the Neos accordingly received two seats each.