2018 Lower Austrian state election

The 2018 Lower Austrian state election was held on 28 January 2018 to elect the members of the Landtag of Lower Austria.

2018 Lower Austrian state election

28 January 2018

All 56 seats in the Landtag of Lower Austria
29 seats needed for a majority
All 9 seats in the state government
Turnout922,807 (66.6%)
4.3%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Johanna Mikl-Leitner Franz Schnabl Udo Landbauer
Party ÖVP SPÖ FPÖ
Last election 30 seats, 50.8% 13 seats, 21.6% 4 seats, 8.2%
Seats won 29 13 8
Seat change 1 0 4
Popular vote 450,812 217,289 134,085
Percentage 49.6% 23.9% 14.8%
Swing 1.2% 2.3% 6.6%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Helga Krismer Indra Collini
Party Greens NEOS
Last election 4 seats, 8.1% Did not contest
Seats won 3 3
Seat change 1 3
Popular vote 58,401 46,801
Percentage 6.4% 5.2%
Swing 1.6% 5.2%

Results by municipality.

Governor before election

Johanna Mikl-Leitner
ÖVP

Elected Governor

Johanna Mikl-Leitner
ÖVP

The ruling Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) fell just short of an absolute majority of votes, but retained its majority in the Landtag. Nonetheless, this was its worst result in the state since 1998. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) made gains, with the latter doubling its share of seats. The Greens took minor losses, while NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS) contested its first state election in Lower Austria, debuting at 5.2%. Team Stronach, which had won 9.8% in the previous election, did not compete.[1]

Background

The Lower 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. After the 2013 election, the ÖVP had six councillors, the SPÖ two, and Team Stronach one.

Electoral system

The 56 seats of the Landtag of Lower Austria are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between twenty 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.[2]

Contesting parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag.

Name Ideology Leader 2013 result
Votes (%) Seats Councillors
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Christian democracy Johanna Mikl-Leitner 50.8%
30 / 56
6 / 9
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Social democracy Franz Schnabl 21.6%
13 / 56
2 / 9
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
Udo Landbauer 8.2%
4 / 56
GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
Green politics Helga Krismer 8.1%
4 / 56

Team Stronach, which contested the previous election and won 9.8% of votes, five seats, and one state councillor, did not contest the 2018 election.

In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, four parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.[3]

Opinion polling

Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample
size
ÖVP SPÖ FPÖ Grüne NEOS Others Lead
2018 state election 28 Jan 2018 49.6 23.9 14.8 6.4 5.2 0.1 25.7
Research Affairs 16–18 Jan 2018 413 45 23 21 5 5 1 22
OGM 8–16 Jan 2018 831 45 26 19 5 5 19
Public Opinion Strategies 2–11 Jan 2018 805 48 23 17 5 6 1 25
Market January 2018 ? 46 24 17 5 6 2 22
Unique Research 2–10 Jan 2018 500 47 23 18 5 5 2 24
Research Affairs 3–5 Jan 2018 410 45 22 21 4 5 3 23
SOZAB 30 Oct–25 Nov 2017 1,500 50 22 16 5 4 3 28
OGM 9–14 Nov 2017 784 45 25 20 4 4 2 20
2013 state election 3 Mar 2013 50.8 21.6 8.2 8.1 11.3[lower-alpha 1] 29.2

Results

Party Votes % +/− Seats +/− Coun. +/−
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 450,812 49.63 –1.16 29 –1 6 ±0
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 217,289 23.92 +2.35 13 ±0 2 ±0
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 134,085 14.76 +6.55 8 +4 1 +1
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 58,401 6.43 –1.63 3 –1 0 ±0
NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS) 46,801 5.15 +5.15 3 +3 0 New
Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ) 584 0.06 –0.03 0 ±0 0 ±0
We for Lower Austria (WFNOE) 367 0.04 New 0 New 0 New
Invalid/blank votes 14,468
Total 922,807 100 56 0 9 0
Registered voters/turnout 1,386,356 66.56 –4.31
Source: Lower Austrian Government
Popular vote
ÖVP
49.63%
SPÖ
23.92%
FPÖ
14.76%
GRÜNE
6.43%
NEOS
5.15%
Other
0.10%
Landtag seats
ÖVP
51.78%
SPÖ
23.21%
FPÖ
14.28%
GRÜNE
5.36%
NEOS
5.36%

Results by constituency

Constituency ÖVP SPÖ FPÖ Grüne NEOS Others Total
seats
Turnout
%S %S %S %S %S %
Amstetten52.7223.0113.85.54.60.4369.4
Baden40.1229.0115.97.86.60.5361.5
Bruck an der Leitha41.7130.3117.06.34.7260.7
Gänserndorf46.4128.216.55.33.6162.5
Gmünd53.926.113.33.53.2069.5
Hollabrunn58.1119.713.25.43.6170.4
Horn65.015.811.74.13.4072.7
Korneuburg49.4122.713.38.26.4165.0
Krems an der Donau54.0120.214.16.15.6170.4
Lilienfeld48.629.513.84.43.6072.1
Melk52.4122.716.04.63.90.4170.8
Mistelbach57.1119.613.85.73.9170.5
Mödling43.4123.0111.411.710.20.3264.1
Neunkirchen45.5128.9117.14.63.9266.2
Sankt Pölten45.8226.6114.17.85.7366.2
Scheibbs59.520.112.14.43.9072.4
Tulln50.9120.113.49.06.6165.7
Waidhofen an der Thaya55.016.820.44.53.3069.8
Wiener Neustadt45.7226.6118.34.84.6363.0
Zwettl63.4113.115.64.33.6173.2
Remaining seats10683330
Total49.62923.91314.886.435.230.15666.6
Source: Lower Austrian Government

Preference votes

Alongside votes for a party, voters were able to cast a preferential votes for a candidate on the party list. The ten candidates with the most preferential votes were as follows:[4]

Party Pos. Candidate Votes %
ÖVP 1 Johanna Mikl-Leitner 186,133 77.4
FPÖ 1 Udo Landbauer 41,461 75.3
SPÖ 1 Franz Schnabl 39,950 58.8
ÖVP 2 Stefan Pernkopf 18,465 7.7
ÖVP 4 Karl Wilfing 7,491 3.1
ÖVP 6 Ludwig Schleritzko 7,091 2.9
GRÜNE 1 Helga Krismer 7,079 42.4
NEOS 1 Indra Collini 6,959 59.7
SPÖ 2 Karin Renner 4,309 6.3
FPÖ 2 Gottfried Waldhäusl 4,133 7.5

Aftermath

The ÖVP retained its Landtag majority and six out of nine state councillors; the SPÖ also retained its two councillors. With the disappearance of Team Stronach, the FPÖ moved into third place on a strong swing, and won one state councillor.[5]

Notes

  1. Including Team Stronach (9.8%), which did not contest the 2018 election.

References

  1. "State of Lower Austria - Landtag election 2018". Lower Austrian Government.
  2. "ROS - NÖ Landtag electoral law 1992 - State law for Lower Austria, version of 04.08.2020". Lower Austrian Government.
  3. "Parties". Lower Austrian Government.
  4. "Candidates". Lower Austrian Government.
  5. "State government". Lower Austrian Government.


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