2018 Carinthian state election

The 2018 Carinthian state election was held on 5 March 2018 to elect the members of the Landtag of Carinthia.

2018 Carinthian state election

5 March 2018

All 36 seats in the Landtag of Carinthia
19 seats needed for a majority
Turnout297,921 (68.6%)
6.5%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Peter Kaiser Gernot Darmann Christian Benger
Party SPÖ FPÖ ÖVP
Last election 14 seats, 37.1% 6 seats, 16.8% 5 seats, 14.4%
Seats won 18 9 6
Seat change 4 3 1
Popular vote 140,994 67,538 45,438
Percentage 47.9% 22.9% 15.4%
Swing 10.8% 6.1% 1.0%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Gerhard Köfer Rolf Holub
Party TK Greens
Last election 4 seats, 11.1% 5 seats, 12.1%
Seats won 3 0
Seat change 1 5
Popular vote 16,667 9,188
Percentage 5.7% 3.1%
Swing 5.5% 9.0%

Results by municipality. The lighter shade indicates a plurality; the darker shade indicates a majority.

Governor before election

Peter Kaiser
SPÖ

Elected Governor

Peter Kaiser
SPÖ

The centre-left Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) was the clear winner, taking 47.9% of votes, an eleven percentage point increase from 2013. The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) gained six points, and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) gained one. This was enabled by a collapse in support for other parties: Team Carinthia, which had split from defunct Team Stronach, lost half its voteshare; The Greens tumbled from 12% to 3% and lost their representation; and the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) collapsed from 6.4% to just 0.4%.

The SPÖ fell one seat short of an absolute majority, and held exploratory talks with the three other parties in the Landtag. They ultimately formed a coalition government with the ÖVP.[1]

Background

Prior to amendments made in 2017, the Carinthian 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 June 2017, the SPÖ, ÖVP, and Greens (all members of the government) as well as Team Carinthia voted to amend the constitution to remove this requirement.[2] As such, the 2018 election was the first in post-war Carinthian history in which conventional coalition formation could take place.[3]

In the 2013 election, the Freedom Party in Carinthia suffered the largest defeat of any party in Austrian history, falling from 45% to just 17%. Their collapse led to a highly fractious result, with five parties winning at least one state councillor. However, the SPÖ emerged as a clear victor with 37% of the vote. The FPK, having previously been the dominant party in the state, won only one state councillor. Shortly after the election, they voted to give up their independence and merge into the federal Freedom Party. The SPÖ subsequently formed a governing agreement with the ÖVP and Greens.

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.[4]

Contesting parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag.

Name Ideology Leader 2013 result
Votes (%) Seats
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Social democracy Peter Kaiser 37.1%
14 / 36
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
Gernot Darmann 16.8%
6 / 36
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Christian democracy Wolfgang Waldner 14.4%
5 / 36
GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
Green politics Rolf Holub 12.1%
5 / 36
TK Team Carinthia
Team Kärnten
Economic liberalism Gerhard Köfer 11.1%
4 / 36
BZÖ Alliance for the Future of Austria
Bündnis Zukunft Österreich
National conservatism Helmut Nikel 6.4%
2 / 36

In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, four parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.[5]

Opinion polling

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size
SPÖ FPÖ ÖVP Grüne TK BZÖ NEOS Others Lead
2018 state election 5 March 2018 47.9 22.9 15.4 3.1 5.7 0.4 2.1 2.7 25.0
OGM 14–20 Feb 2018 786 44 24 18 2–3 5 4–5 1–2 20
M+R Autumn 2017 500 42–44 26–28 16–18 3–4 5–6 2–3 2 14–18
TrendCom February 2017 1,100 39 28 13 12 4 0 3 11
IFAP 12 Aug 2014 ? 43 16 17 13 4 2 4 26
Humaninstitut 26 Mar 2014 ? 38 16 12 14 10 3 7 22
IMAS 28 Feb 2014 ? 36 18 10 15 8 1.5 10 1.5 18
2013 state election 3 March 2013 37.1 16.8 14.4 12.1 11.2 6.4 1.9 20.3

Results

Party Votes % +/− Seats +/−
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 140,994 47.94 +10.81 18 +4
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 67,538 22.96 +6.11 9 +3
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 45,438 15.45 +1.05 6 +1
Team Carinthia (TK) 16,667 5.67 –5.51 3 –1
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 9,188 3.12 –8.98 0 –5
NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS) 6,307 2.14 New 0 New
Responsibility EARTH (ERDE) 5,441 1.85 New 0 New
Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) 1,075 0.37 –6.03 0 –2
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 822 0.28 +0.28 0 ±0
FAIR (FAIR) 622 0.21 New 0 New
Invalid/blank votes 3,826
Total 297,918 100 36 0
Registered voters/turnout 434,121 68.63 –6.52
Source: Carinthian Government
Popular vote
SPÖ
47.94%
FPÖ
22.96%
ÖVP
15.45%
TK
5.67%
GRÜNE
3.12%
NEOS
2.14%
Other
2.72%
Landtag seats
SPÖ
50.00%
FPÖ
25.00%
ÖVP
16.67%
TK
8.33%

Results by constituency

Constituency SPÖ FPÖ ÖVP TK Grüne NEOS Others Total
seats
Turnout
%S %S %S %S %S %S %
Klagenfurt51.7519.9113.314.95.02.62.7767.4
Carinthia East46.4425.8217.014.82.21.91.9769.3
Villach51.2421.6112.45.42.92.14.5567.9
Carinthia West42.3324.5119.017.92.31.92.1570.0
Remaining seats24330012
Total47.91822.9915.465.733.102.102.73668.6
Source: Carinthian Government

Aftermath

After the election, the SPÖ began exploratory talks with the three other parties in the Landtag. By the beginning of April, a coalition agreement had been reached with the ÖVP. However, after ÖVP leader Christian Benger unexpectedly resigned a few days later, the SPÖ led by Kaiser demanded the coalition be renegotiated, fearing the new ÖVP leadership may renege on promises made by their predecessors.[6] On 9 April, the coalition was finalised and presented.[1]

References


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