2004 Carinthian state election

The 2004 Carinthian state election was held on 7 March 2004 to elect the members of the Landtag of Carinthia.

2004 Carinthian state election

7 March 2004

All 36 seats in the Landtag of Carinthia
19 seats needed for a majority
Turnout334,431 (78.6%)
1.9%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Jörg Haider Peter Ambrozy
Party FPÖ SPÖ
Last election 16 seats, 42.1% 12 seats, 32.9%
Seats won 16 14
Seat change 0 2
Popular vote 139,479 126,325
Percentage 42.4% 38.4%
Swing 0.4% 5.6%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Elisabeth Scheucher Rolf Holub
Party ÖVP Greens
Last election 8 seats, 20.7% 0 seats, 3.9%[lower-alpha 1]
Seats won 4 2
Seat change 4 2
Popular vote 38,256 22,053
Percentage 11.6% 6.7%
Swing 9.1% 2.8%

Governor before election

Jörg Haider
FPÖ

Elected Governor

Jörg Haider
FPÖ

The election was a victory for the first-term Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) government under Jörg Haider, which repeated its strong performance from the previous election. This came despite difficulties on the federal level and recent defeats in other state elections, as well as a strong challenge from the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) lost almost half its voteshare, while The Greens won seats for the first time.

Background

Prior to amendments made in 2017, the Carinthian constitution mandated that cabinet positions in the state government (state councillors, German: Landesräten) be allocated between parties proportionally in accordance with the share of votes won by each; this is known as Proporz. As such, the government was a perpetual coalition of all parties that qualified for at least one state councillor.[1]

In the 1999 state election, the FPÖ became the largest party in a state legislature for the first time in history, winning 42% of votes cast. FPÖ leader Jörg Haider became Governor.

Electoral system

The 36 seats of the Landtag of Carinthia are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between four multi-member constituencies. For parties to receive any representation in the Landtag, they must either win at least one seat in a constituency directly, or clear a 5 percent state-wide electoral threshold. Seats are distributed in constituencies according to the Hare quota, with any remaining seats allocated using the D'Hondt method at the state level, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's vote share and its share of seats.[2]

Contesting parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag.

Name Ideology Leader 1999 result
Votes (%) Seats Councillors
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
Jörg Haider 42.1%
16 / 36
3 / 7
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Social democracy Peter Ambrozy 32.9%
12 / 36
3 / 7
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Christian democracy Elisabeth Scheucher 20.7%
8 / 36
1 / 7

In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, three parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.

Results

Party Votes % +/− Seats +/− Coun. +/−
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 139,479 42.43 +0.37 16 ±0 3 ±0
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 126,325 38.43 +5.57 14 +2 3 ±0
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 38,256 11.64 –9.10 4 –4 1 ±0
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 22,053 6.71 +2.78 2 +2 0 ±0
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 1,951 0.59 +0.18 0 ±0 0 ±0
SAU Party (SAU) 635 0.19 New 0 New 0 New
Invalid/blank votes 5,732
Total 334,431 100 36 0 7 0
Registered voters/turnout 425,304 78.63 –1.87
Source: Carinthian Government
Popular vote
FPÖ
42.42%
SPÖ
38.43%
ÖVP
11.64%
GRÜNE
6.71%
Other
0.78%
Landtag seats
FPÖ
44.44%
SPÖ
38.89%
ÖVP
11.11%
GRÜNE
5.56%

Results by constituency

Constituency FPÖ SPÖ ÖVP Grüne Others Total
seats
Turnout
%S %S %S %S %
Klagenfurt41.7435.8310.7111.110.7976.9
Carinthia East42.6439.4412.614.80.6980.2
Villach40.0343.938.36.21.5677.9
Carinthia West45.1435.1314.514.80.5879.4
Remaining seats11114
Total42.41638.41411.646.720.83678.6
Source: Carinthian Government

Notes

  1. As part of the joint list Democracy 99.

References

  1. "Carinthia abolishes the Proporz". Die Presse. 1 June 2017.
  2. "LT2013_Mandate.pdf" (PDF). Carinthian Government.
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