2009 Upper Austrian state election

The 2009 Upper Austrian state election was held on 27 September 2009 to elect the members of the Landtag of Upper Austria.

2009 Upper Austrian state election

27 September 2009

All 56 seats in the Landtag of Upper Austria
29 seats needed for a majority
All 9 seats in the state government
Turnout872,796 (80.3%)
1.7%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Josef Pühringer Erich Haider
Party ÖVP SPÖ
Last election 25 seats, 43.4% 22 seats, 38.3%
Seats won 28 14
Seat change 3 8
Popular vote 400,365 213,555
Percentage 46.8% 24.9%
Swing 3.3% 13.4%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Manfred Haimbuchner Rudolf Anschober
Party FPÖ Greens
Last election 4 seats, 8.4% 5 seats, 9.1%
Seats won 9 5
Seat change 5 0
Popular vote 130,937 78,569
Percentage 15.3% 9.2%
Swing 6.9% 0.1%

Governor before election

Josef Pühringer
ÖVP

Elected Governor

Josef Pühringer
ÖVP

The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) made gains but fell just short of an overall majority. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) suffered major losses, falling to just under a quarter of the vote, while the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) recovered some of the losses they had taken in the 2003 election. The ÖVP under Governor Josef Pühringer subsequently renewed its working agreement with the Greens which had been signed after the previous election.

Background

The Upper Austrian constitution mandates 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 is a perpetual coalition of all parties that qualify for at least one state councillor. Despite this, parties still establish formal coalitions to organise cabinet positions and ensure a Landtag majority for legislative purposes.

In the 2003 state election, the ÖVP maintained a small lead over the SPÖ, which achieved a strong swing in its favour while the FPÖ's support collapsed. The Greens achieved a respectable result of 9%, and crucially achieved balance of power in the state government. The ÖVP and SPÖ each won four councillors, while the Greens won one; the FPÖ failed to win any. The ÖVP signed a working coalition with the Greens, giving rise to the first ÖVP–Green government in Austria.

Electoral system

The 56 seats of the Landtag of Upper Austria are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between five 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 4 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.[1]

Contesting parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag.

Name Ideology Leader 2003 result
Votes (%) Seats Councillors
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Christian democracy Josef Pühringer 43.4%
25 / 56
4 / 9
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Social democracy Erich Haider 38.3%
22 / 56
4 / 9
GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
Green politics Rudolf Anschober 9.1%
5 / 56
1 / 9
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
Manfred Haimbuchner 8.4%
4 / 56
0 / 9

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. +/−
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 400,365 46.76 +3.34 28 +3 5 +1
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 213,555 24.94 –13.39 14 –8 2 –2
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 130,937 15.29 +6.89 9 +5 1 +1
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 78,569 9.18 +0.12 5 ±0 1 ±0
Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) 24,268 2.83 New 0 New 0 New
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 4,812 0.56 –0.22 0 ±0 0 ±0
The Christians (DC) 3,721 0.43 New 0 New 0 New
Invalid/blank votes 16,569
Total 872,796 100 56 0 9 0
Registered voters/turnout 1,086,310 80.35 +1.70
Source: Upper Austrian Government
Popular vote
ÖVP
46.76%
SPÖ
24.94%
FPÖ
15.29%
GRÜNE
9.18%
Other
3.82%
Landtag seats
ÖVP
50.00%
SPÖ
25.00%
FPÖ
16.07%
GRÜNE
8.93%

Results by constituency

Constituency ÖVP SPÖ FPÖ Grüne Others Total
seats
Turnout
%S %S %S %S %
Linz and Surrounds38.6431.2315.1111.413.8974.0
Innviertel50.6419.6118.917.04.0681.1
Hausruckviertel47.0622.9317.529.013.81281.0
Traunviertel45.6427.8213.418.84.5780.1
Mühlviertel52.7622.7212.019.213.51086.6
Remaining seats433212
Total46.82824.91415.399.253.85680.3
Source: Upper Austrian Government

References

  1. "RIS - Upper Austria Landtag election act". Upper Austrian Government.
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