2013 Lower Austrian state election

2013 Lower Austrian state election

3 March 2013

All 56 seats in the Landtag of Lower Austria29 seats needed for a majorityAll 9 seats in the state government
Turnout975,746 (70.9%)Decrease 3.6%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Erwin PröllJosef Leitner Frank Stronach
Party ÖVPSPÖStronach
Last election 31 seats, 54.4% 15 seats, 25.5% Did not exist
Seats won 30 13 5
Seat change Decrease 1 Decrease 2 Increase 5
Popular vote 495,557 210,504 96,016
Percentage 50.8% 21.6% 9.8%
Swing Decrease 3.6% Decrease 3.9% New party

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Barbara RosenkranzMadeleine Petrovic
Party FPÖGreens
Leader since 2008
Last election 6 seats, 10.5% 4 seats, 6.9%
Seats won 4 4
Seat change Decrease 2 Steady 0
Popular vote 80,122 78,678
Percentage 8.2% 8.1%
Swing Decrease 2.3% Increase 1.2%

Results by municipality.

Governor before election

Erwin PröllÖVP

Elected Governor

Erwin PröllÖVP

The 2013 Lower Austrian state election was held on 3 March 2013 to elect the members of the Landtag of Lower Austria.

The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) retained its majority. The main winner of the election was the new Team Stronach, which debuted at 9.8%. It drew votes from the ÖVP, Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).[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 2008 election, the ÖVP had six councillors, the SPÖ two, and the FPÖ one.

Electoral system

The 56 seats of the Landtag of Lower Austria are elected via open listproportional 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 2008 result
Votes (%) Seats Councillors
ÖVPAustrian People's PartyÖsterreichische VolksparteiChristian democracyErwin Pröll54.4%
31 / 56
6 / 9
SPÖSocial Democratic Party of AustriaSozialdemokratische Partei ÖsterreichsSocial democracyJosef Leitner 25.5%
15 / 56
2 / 9
FPÖFreedom Party of AustriaFreiheitliche Partei ÖsterreichsRight-wing populismEuroscepticismBarbara Rosenkranz10.5%
6 / 56
1 / 9
GRÜNEThe Greens – The Green AlternativeDie Grünen – Die Grüne AlternativeGreen politicsMadeleine Petrovic6.9%
4 / 56

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

Results

Party Votes % +/− Seats +/− Coun.+/−
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 495,557 50.79 –3.60 30 –1 6 ±0
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 210,504 21.57 –3.94 13 –2 2 ±0
Team Stronach (FRANK) 90,016 9.84 New 5 New 1 New
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 80,122 8.21 –2.26 4 –2 0 –1
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 78,678 8.06 +1.15 4 ±0 0 ±0
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 7,559 0.77 –0.09 0 ±0 0 ±0
The Brave Citizens (MUT) 5,968 0.61 New 0 New 0 New
Christian Party of Austria – Centre Party (CPÖMP) 841 0.09 –0.75 0 ±0 0 ±0
Pirate Party of Austria (PIRAT) 501 0.05 +0.05 0 ±0 0 ±0
Invalid/blank votes 19,527
Total995,27310056090
Registered voters/turnout 1,404,454 70.87 –3.64
Source: Lower Austrian Government
Popular vote
ÖVP
50.79%
SPÖ
21.57%
FRANK
9.84%
FPÖ
8.21%
GRÜNE
8.06%
Other
1.52%
Landtag seats
ÖVP
53.57%
SPÖ
23.21%
FRANK
8.93%
FPÖ
7.14%
GRÜNE
7.14%

Results by constituency

Constituency ÖVPSPÖFRANKFPÖGrüneOthers Totalseats Turnout
%S%S%S%S%S%
Amstetten53.5220.219.07.97.61.8374.6
Baden42.9122.6114.48.99.41.9267.0
Bruck an der Leitha50.223.710.98.15.71.4069.1
Gänserndorf46.8125.810.78.96.21.6167.3
Gmünd50.528.19.06.74.90.9075.3
Hollabrunn58.1120.37.97.05.31.4174.5
Horn64.115.66.77.45.80.5076.3
Korneuburg51.1118.110.18.011.01.8169.8
Krems an der Donau56.1119.17.87.67.41.9174.5
Lilienfeld49.127.48.97.75.91.0076.3
Melk51.8122.68.19.36.31.8176.6
Mistelbach57.3219.18.47.86.80.7274.0
Mödling45.3218.611.97.214.82.2265.7
Neunkirchen48.0126.09.68.66.31.6170.5
Sankt Pölten47.4224.319.58.68.41.9371.7
Scheibbs55.8121.67.47.35.52.4177.0
Tulln53.8118.49.68.19.30.8171.7
Waidhofen an der Thaya56.818.68.110.65.9074.7
Vienna Surrounds43.4121.911.98.513.01.3162.1
Zwettl64.7113.77.38.55.40.5178.3
Remaining seats111054434
Total50.83021.6139.858.248.141.55670.9
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 %
ÖVP1 Erwin Pröll267,482 88.4
SPÖ1 Josef Leitner 39,706 61.0
FRANK1 Frank Stronach29,728 83.5
FPÖ1 Barbara Rosenkranz29,099 81.2
GRÜNE1 Madeleine Petrovic19,690 67.8
ÖVP4 Stefan Pernkopf 5,635 1.9
ÖVP6 Karl Wilfing 4,579 1.5
ÖVP25 Bettina Rausch3,118 1.0
SPÖ4 Heidamaria Onodi 2,747 4.2
FRANK2 Ernest Gabmann Jr. 2,778 7.8

Aftermath

The ÖVP retained its Landtag majority and six out of nine state councillors; the SPÖ also retained its two councillors. The FPÖ lost their sole state councillor to Team Stronach.

References

  1. ^"State of Lower Austria – Landtag election 2013". 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.