2015 Styrian state election

The 2015 Styrian state election was held on 31 May 2015 to elect the members of the Landtag of Styria.

2015 Styrian state election

31 May 2015

All 48 seats in the Landtag of Styria
25 seats needed for a majority
Turnout655,051 (67.9%)
1.6%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Franz Voves Hermann Schützenhöfer Mario Kunasek
Party SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ
Last election 23 seats, 38.3% 22 seats, 37.2% 6 seats, 10.7%
Seats won 15 14 14
Seat change 8 8 8
Popular vote 189,762 184,301 173,332
Percentage 29.3% 28.5% 26.8%
Swing 9.0% 8.7% 16.1%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Lambert Schönleitner Claudia Klimt-Weithaler
Party Greens KPÖ
Last election 3 seats, 5.6% 2 seats, 4.4%
Seats won 3 2
Seat change 0 0
Popular vote 43,272 27,339
Percentage 6.7% 4.2%
Swing 1.1% 0.2%

Results by municipality.

Governor before election

Franz Voves
SPÖ

Elected Governor

Hermann Schützenhöfer
ÖVP

The election saw major losses for the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), the two major parties, matched by huge gains for the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The SPÖ finished first on 29.3% and 15 seats, just ahead of the ÖVP's 28.5% and 14 seats. The FPÖ placed a close third with 26.8%, and tied the ÖVP in seats.[1]

Governor Franz Voves resigned after the election. The SPÖ and ÖVP renewed their coalition government, but during negotiations, it was unexpectedly announced that ÖVP leader Hermann Schützenhöfer would become Governor, despite his party being the smaller of the two.[2] The SPÖ claimed it was a necessary concession to prevent an ÖVP–FPÖ coalition; nonetheless, the announcement caused significant controversy. Schützenhöfer was sworn in on 15 June.[3]

Background

After the 2010 election, the SPÖ won a narrow victory over the ÖVP, and the two parties formed a coalition government.

Prior to amendments made in 2011, the Styrian constitution mandated that cabinet positions in the state government 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 cabinet position. In November 2011, the Landtag voted to amend the constitution to remove this requirement. As such, the 2015 election was the first in post-war Styrian history in which conventional coalition formation could take place.[4]

Electoral system

The 48 seats of the Landtag of Styria are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. 38 of the seats are 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 are distributed in constituencies according to the Hare quota, with ten 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.[5]

Contesting parties

Name Ideology Leader 2010 result
Votes (%) Seats
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Social democracy Franz Voves 38.3%
23 / 48
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Christian democracy Hermann Schützenhöfer 37.2%
22 / 48
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
Mario Kunasek 10.7%
6 / 48
GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
Green politics Lambert Schönleitner 5.6%
3 / 48
KPÖ Communist Party of Austria
Kommunistische Partei Österreichs
Communism Claudia Klimt-Weithaler 4.4%
2 / 48

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

Opinion polling

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size
SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ Grüne KPÖ TS NEOS Others Lead
2015 state election 31 May 2015 29.3 28.5 26.8 6.7 4.2 1.7 2.6 0.2 0.8
OGM May 2015 503 31–32 28–29 21–22 6–7 5–6 1–2 3–4 1–2 2–4
Gallup 11–13 May 2015 400 31 29 21 8 5 2 4 2 2
Market 4–7 May 2015 398 33 31 17 7 5 1 5 1 2
OGM May 2015 ? 30 28 24 7 6 1 3 1 2
M+R March 2015 800 34 30 19.5 6.5 4.5 3 2 4
Gallup April 2015 300 31 29 20 8 4 5 2 2
Gallup March 2015 ? 32 29 20 8 4 5 2 3
meinungsraum.at January 2015 ? 30 28 21 10 3 1 6 1 2
2010 state election 26 September 2010 38.3 37.2 10.7 5.6 4.4 3.9 1.1

Results

Party Votes % +/− Seats +/−
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 189,762 29.29 –8.97 15 –8
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 184,301 28.45 –8.74 14 –8
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 173,332 26.76 +16.10 14 +8
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 43,272 6.68 +1.13 3 ±0
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 27,339 4.22 –0.19 2 ±0
NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS) 17,078 2.64 New 0 New
Team Stronach (FRANK) 11,292 1.74 New 0 New
Pirate Party of Austria (PIRAT) 1,406 0.22 +0.22 0 ±0
Invalid/blank votes 7,269
Total 655,051 100 48 –8
Registered voters/turnout 964,665 67.90 –1.64
Source: Styrian Government
Popular vote
SPÖ
29.29%
ÖVP
28.45%
FPÖ
26.76%
GRÜNE
6.68%
KPÖ
4.22%
NEOS
2.64%
Other
1.96%
Landtag seats
SPÖ
31.25%
ÖVP
29.17%
FPÖ
29.17%
GRÜNE
6.25%
KPÖ
4.17%

Results by constituency

Constituency SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ Grüne KPÖ Others Total
seats
Turnout
%S %S %S %S %S %
District 128.3424.8323.5311.216.415.71264.4
District 222.0238.1427.935.21.94.9972.3
District 328.3228.4231.824.42.94.1668.3
District 436.9524.3326.434.44.53.41168.2
State seats2232110
Total29.31528.51426.8146.734.224.64867.9
Source: Styrian Government

Aftermath

Prior to the election, Governor Franz Voves stated he would resign if the SPÖ fell below 30% of vote share. As the party fell short of this target, albeit by less than one percentage points, Voves announced his resignation. He was replaced as party leader by Michael Schickhöfer. Formal coalition talks between the SPÖ and ÖVP proceeded. As the SPÖ was the larger party, it was naturally expected that they would retain the governorship. However, after several days of negotiations, the government announced that Voves would be succeeded by ÖVP leader Hermann Schützenhöfer.[2] This was received poorly by opposition parties and the federal SPÖ alike, who criticised it as a breach of political convention. The Styrian SPÖ claimed it had been done to prevent the ÖVP from defecting and forming a coalition with the FPÖ.[3] The government took office on 16 June.

References

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