Austrian federal election, 1997 (Cinco De Mayo)

The Austrian federal election of 1997 was contested on Saturday, June 21, 1997 to elect the Parliament of Austria. The SPÖ, governing in a majority government under Franz Vranitzky, lost five seats to narrow their majority to only two seats (127) while the NVP ended up with 72 seats and the VA had their lowest vote total in history, clocking in only 21% of the vote and sitting at 50 seats. It would be the first time the NVP formed the Official Opposition of Austria. The Democratic Party, a minority-rights group formed by the 1995 merger of the Slovene Democratic Party and Party for Istria, lost sixteen seats and had only one member in Parliament afterwards, leading to the party disbanding in 1998 and the final member joining the SPÖ, giving Vranitzky's government breathing room. The NVP, which had 39.4% of the vote, saw their best election result in party history and was the first time they ever placed second.