State election in Carinthia in 1923
(+4.99)
(-6.50)
(-1.15)
( n. K. )
(-0.17)
The state elections in Carinthia in 1923 took place on October 21 of that year . After the Gröger state government, which was only installed in 1921, was unable to work due to internal conflicts, it was decided to hold early elections parallel to the 1923 National Council election. In the election, the unity list , an alliance of the Carinthian Land Association , the Christian Social Party and the Greater German People's Party, achieved an absolute majority. As a result, the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria lost its supremacy and its claim to the governor. The deputies of theThe 13th legislative period subsequently elected the Schumy state government on November 6, 1923 .
Election campaign & issues
The common opposition to the social democratic governor Florian Gröger had promoted the emergence of the unity list as a common block of the "bourgeois" parties. Only the radical DNSAP and the Carinthian Slovenes party did not become part of the alliance, the undisputed leader of which was later governor Vinzenz Schumy . Arthur Lemisch, on the other hand, slowly withdrew and only ran for sixth place on the list. The Social Democrats, however, hoped for the official bonus of the previous Governor Gröger.
After the very hard and ideological election campaign in 1921, the social democrats and the unity list agreed on a “fairness agreement.” This only served its purpose superficially - instead of directly between the parties, the conflict escalated between more or less closely related organizations. Several times there were violent clashes between the Heimatschutzverband (see Heimwehr , the members of the Heimatschutzverband were more supporters of the GDVP than the CS) and the Schutzbund .
In spite of assertions to the contrary, the election campaign was again not about state political issues, but about ideological positions. Campaign speeches revolved around the struggle against a dictatorship of the proletariat on the one hand and the struggle against exploitative capitalists on the other. With reference to the date of the Carinthian referendum , the unity list instrumentalized the border conflict at the time - another date in October would decide the fate of the country. Ideological conflicts within the unified list (about the question of a “Anschluss” or clerical versus anti-clerical currents) could be avoided, the “Jewish infiltrated” social democracy was the common enemy. The unified list received further impetus due to the recovery in the economic situation after the League of Nations loan under the Christian-Social Chancellor Ignaz Seipel . The Social Democrats, for their part, tried to highlight the achievements of their governor. In the final phase of the election campaign there were allegations of election manipulation between several parties through false reports in the media and on leaflets.
Results
With 54.76%, the unified list achieved a clear election victory. Of the 24 mandates won, 10 were from the Kärntner Landbund, 9 from the Christian Social Party and 5 from the Greater German People's Party. With a minus of 6.50%, the Social Democrats lost significantly against the bourgeois alliance, which reached almost 75% in the districts of Wolfsberg and Hermagor and over 60% in Spittal an der Drau, Klagenfurt City and St. Veit. The Social Democrats achieved their best result in Villach with 49.53%. The party of the Carinthian Slovenes made it into the state parliament again due to the strong performance in the Völkermarkt district (29.33%). After this defeat Florian Gröger switched to federal politics. Vinzenz Schumy became the new governor, Sylvester Leer (CS) his first deputy, the second deputy was the social democrat August Neutzler .
| Political party | be right | percent | Mandates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit list (EL) | 91,794 | 54.76 | 24 |
| Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (SDAP) | 60,749 | 36.24 | 15th |
| Party of the Carinthian Slovenes (KSS) | 9,740 | 5.81 | 2 |
| German National Socialist Workers' Party (DNSAP) | 4,755 | 2.83 | 1 |
| Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) | 582 | 0.35 | 0 |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Karl Anderwald : The brittle anti-Marxist front. Carinthian state election campaigns in the First Republic . In: Herbert Dachs , Michael Dippelreiter, Franz Schausberger (eds.): Radical phrase, electoral alliances and continuities. State election campaigns in Austria's federal states 1919 to 1932 (= series of publications by the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr.-Wilfried-Haslauer Library . Volume 57 ). Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20498-5 , pp. 102 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Karl Anderwald: The brittle anti-Marxist front. Carinthian state election campaigns in the First Republic . In: Herbert Dachs, Michael Dippelreiter, Franz Schausberger (eds.): Radical phrase, electoral alliances and continuities. State election campaigns in Austria's federal states 1919 to 1932 (= series of publications by the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr.-Wilfried-Haslauer Library . Volume 57 ). Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20498-5 , pp. 104 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ^ A b Karl Anderwald: The brittle anti-Marxist front. Carinthian state election campaigns in the First Republic . In: Herbert Dachs, Michael Dippelreiter, Franz Schausberger (eds.): Radical phrase, electoral alliances and continuities. State election campaigns in Austria's federal states 1919 to 1932 (= series of publications by the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr.-Wilfried-Haslauer Library . Volume 57 ). Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20498-5 , pp. 106 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
