2003 Lower Austrian state election

30 March 2003
All 56 seats in the Landtag of Lower Austria 29 seats needed for a majority All 9 seats in the state government
Turnout	937,487 (71.8%) 0.2%
First party Second party   Leader Erwin Pröll Heidemaria Onodi Party ÖVP SPÖ Last election 27 seats, 44.9% 18 seats, 30.4% Seats won 31 19 Seat change 4 1 Popular vote 491,065 309,199 Percentage 53.3% 33.6% Swing 8.4% 3.2%   Third party Fourth party   Party Greens FPÖ Last election 2 seats, 4.5% 9 seats, 16.1% Seats won 4 2 Seat change 2 7 Popular vote 66,543 41,391 Percentage 7.2% 4.5% Swing 2.7% 11.6%
Governor before election Erwin Pröll ÖVP Elected Governor Erwin Pröll ÖVP

The 2003 Lower Austrian state election was held on 30 March 2003 to elect the members of the Landtag of Lower Austria.

The election was won by the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), who won an absolute majority in the Landtag for the first time since 1988. They achieved a strong swing of 8.4 percentage points. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and The Greens also made gains; this was enabled by the collapse of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The FPÖ lost almost three-quarters of its vote share and only narrowly passed the 4% electoral threshold, falling from nine seats to just two.^[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 1998 election, the ÖVP had five councillors, the SPÖ three, and the FPÖ 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-one 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.

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

• Green independent Austria – List of EU Opposition Gabriela Wladyka (GRÜNÖ)
• Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)
• Christian Voter Community (CWG)

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Coun.	+/−
	Austrian People's Party (ÖVP)	491,065	53.29	+8.42	31	+4	6	+1
	Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ)	309,199	33.55	+3.16	19	+1	3	±0
	The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE)	66,543	7.22	+2.73	4	+2	0	±0
	Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ)	41,391	4.49	–11.59	2	–7	0	–1
	Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)	7,074	0.77	+0.13	0	±0	0	±0
	Green independent Austria (GRÜNÖ)	6,013	0.65	New	0	New	0	New
	Christian Voter Community (CWG)	187	0.02	New	0	New	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		16,015	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total		937,487	100	–	56	0	9	0
Registered voters/turnout		1,305,950	71.79	–0.16	–	–	–	–
Source: Lower Austrian Government

References