2005 Styrian state election

The 2005 Styrian state election was held on 2 October 2005 to elect the members of the Landtag of Styria.

2005 Styrian state election

2 October 2005

All 56 seats in the Landtag of Styria
29 seats needed for a majority
All 9 seats in the state government
Turnout708,311 (76.2%)
1.5%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Franz Voves Waltraud Klasnic Ernest Kaltenegger
Party SPÖ ÖVP KPÖ
Last election 19 seats, 32.3% 27 seats, 47.3% 0 seats, 1.0%
Seats won 25 24 4
Seat change 6 3 4
Popular vote 290,859 269,905 44,247
Percentage 41.7% 38.7% 6.3%
Swing 9.4% 8.6% 5.3%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Party Greens FPÖ
Last election 3 seats, 5.6% 7 seats, 12.4%
Seats won 3 0
Seat change 0 7
Popular vote 33,013 31,807
Percentage 4.7% 4.6%
Swing 0.9% 7.8%

Governor before election

Waltraud Klasnic
ÖVP

Elected Governor

Franz Voves
SPÖ

The result was a historic defeat for the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), who had governed the state uninterrupted since 1945. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) became the largest party on a swing of over nine percentage points. The election was also significant in other ways: the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) lost all its seats for the first time since entering the Landtag in 1949, and suffered its worst result since 1974 in terms of vote share. Conversely, the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) returned to the Landtag after a 35-year absence. It became the third largest party with four seats.

SPÖ leader Franz Voves became the new Governor of Styria. Outgoing Governor Waltraud Klasnic sought to remain regional ÖVP leader, but was forced to resign shortly after the election.

Background

Prior to amendments made in 2011, the Styrian 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.

The 2000 election was a decisive victory for the ÖVP, which improved its vote share by eleven points to 47%, falling two seats short of an absolute majority. This was balanced by losses for the SPÖ, FPÖ, and Liberal Forum.

The KPÖ gained national attention after an unexpected record showing in the 2003 local elections in Graz, the capital of Styria, winning 21% and becoming the third largest party in the municipal council. This was attributed to an effective campaign and the popularity of leader Ernest Kaltenegger. The party gained popularity statewide in the aftermath, particularly after Kaltenegger was announced as lead candidate for the 2005 state election.[1]

Electoral system

The 56 seats of the Landtag of Styria were elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. 48 of the seats were distributed between four multi-member constituencies. For parties to receive any representation in the Landtag, they must win at least one seat in a constituency directly. Seats were distributed in constituencies according to the Hare quota, with nine leveling 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

Name Ideology Leader 2000 result
Votes (%) Seats Councillors
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Christian democracy Waltraud Klasnic 47.3%
27 / 56
5 / 9
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Social democracy Franz Voves 32.3%
19 / 56
3 / 9
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
? 12.4%
7 / 56
1 / 9
GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
Green politics ? 5.6%
3 / 56

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

Results

Party Votes % +/− Seats +/− Coun. +/−
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 290,859 41.67 +9.35 25 +6 5 +2
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 269,905 38.66 –8.64 22 –3 4 –1
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 44,247 6.34 +5.31 4 +4 0 ±0
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 33,013 4.73 –0.88 3 ±0 0 ±0
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 31,807 4.56 –7.85 0 –7 0 –1
Hirschmann List (LH) 14,309 2.05 New 0 New 0 New
Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) 11,977 1.72 New 0 New 0 New
Party-free List (Parteifrei) 1,962 0.28 New 0 New 0 New
Invalid/blank votes 10,232
Total 708,311 100 56 0 9 0
Registered voters/turnout 929,795 76.18 +1.54
Source: Styrian Government
Popular vote
SPÖ
41.67%
ÖVP
38.66%
KPÖ
6.34%
GRÜNE
4.73%
FPÖ
4.56%
Other
4.05%
Landtag seats
SPÖ
44.64%
ÖVP
42.86%
KPÖ
7.14%
GRÜNE
5.36%

Results by constituency

Constituency SPÖ ÖVP KPÖ Grüne FPÖ Others Total
seats
Turnout
%S %S %S %S %S %
District 136.1633.6611.228.615.15.41570.6
District 242.4442.944.43.13.43.8877.9
District 332.8451.963.74.94.33.51080.7
District 452.5931.654.92.84.93.41477.8
State seats23229
Total41.72538.7246.344.734.604.15676.2
Source: Styrian Government

References

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