2009 Upper Austrian state election

27 September 2009
All 56 seats in the Landtag of Upper Austria 29 seats needed for a majority All 9 seats in the state government
Turnout	872,796 (80.3%) 1.7%
First party Second party   Leader Josef Pühringer Erich Haider Party ÖVP SPÖ Last election 25 seats, 43.4% 22 seats, 38.3% Seats won 28 14 Seat change 3 8 Popular vote 400,365 213,555 Percentage 46.8% 24.9% Swing 3.3% 13.4%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Manfred Haimbuchner Rudolf Anschober Party FPÖ Greens Last election 4 seats, 8.4% 5 seats, 9.1% Seats won 9 5 Seat change 5 0 Popular vote 130,937 78,569 Percentage 15.3% 9.2% Swing 6.9% 0.1%
Governor before election Josef Pühringer ÖVP Elected Governor Josef Pühringer ÖVP

The 2009 Upper Austrian state election was held on 27 September 2009 to elect the members of the Landtag of Upper Austria.

The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) made gains but fell just short of an overall majority. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) suffered major losses, falling to just under a quarter of the vote, while the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) recovered some of the losses they had taken in the 2003 election. The ÖVP under Governor Josef Pühringer subsequently renewed its working agreement with the Greens which had been signed after the previous election.

Background

The Upper 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. Despite this, parties still establish formal coalitions to organise cabinet positions and ensure a Landtag majority for legislative purposes.

In the 2003 state election, the ÖVP maintained a small lead over the SPÖ, which achieved a strong swing in its favour while the FPÖ's support collapsed. The Greens achieved a respectable result of 9%, and crucially achieved balance of power in the state government. The ÖVP and SPÖ each won four councillors, while the Greens won one; the FPÖ failed to win any. The ÖVP signed a working coalition with the Greens, giving rise to the first ÖVP–Green government in Austria.

Electoral system

The 56 seats of the Landtag of Upper Austria are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between five 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.^[1]

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.

• Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ)
• Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)
• The Christians (DC)

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Coun.	+/−
	Austrian People's Party (ÖVP)	400,365	46.76	+3.34	28	+3	5	+1
	Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ)	213,555	24.94	–13.39	14	–8	2	–2
	Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ)	130,937	15.29	+6.89	9	+5	1	+1
	The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE)	78,569	9.18	+0.12	5	±0	1	±0
	Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ)	24,268	2.83	New	0	New	0	New
	Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)	4,812	0.56	–0.22	0	±0	0	±0
	The Christians (DC)	3,721	0.43	New	0	New	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		16,569	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total		872,796	100	–	56	0	9	0
Registered voters/turnout		1,086,310	80.35	+1.70	–	–	–	–
Source: Upper Austrian Government

References