State election in Upper Austria 2009
The state elections in Upper Austria in 2009 took place on September 27, 2009 . In addition to the parties already represented in the Upper Austrian Landtag , the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), the party Die Grünen Upper Austria (Greens) and the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) also the Alliance Future Austria ( BZÖ), The Christians (DC) and the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ). The ÖVP was able to expand its majority of votes in the state elections and achieve a majority in the government in addition to half of the state parliament mandates. The SPÖ suffered heavy losses and lost half of its government seats. While the FPÖ, as the big electoral winner, almost doubled its share of the vote and entered the government, the Greens fell behind the FPÖ, although they were able to maintain their share of the vote and the seat of government. The BZÖ, on the other hand, again failed to enter a state parliament, where the KPÖ and Die Christians also failed.
requirements
Starting position
The FPÖ emerged from the state elections in 2003 as a big loser. It had lost 12.2 percent of the vote and slipped back to fourth place with 8.4%. The SPÖ benefited most from the FPÖ's losses. With gains of 11.3%, it was able to increase its share of the vote to 38.3% and achieved the best result in state elections since 1979. The Greens also emerged victorious from the election, increasing their share of the vote from 5.8% to 9, 1%. The ÖVP remained almost unchanged and recorded an increase of 0.7% to 43.4%. While the ÖVP held its mandate of 25 state parliament seats, the SPÖ almost caught up with the ÖVP by gaining 6 seats with 22 state parliament seats. The FPÖ slipped from 12 to 4 mandates and was overtaken by the Greens, which increased from 3 to 5 mandates.
After the election, the government seats were allocated according to the proportional representation system . The ÖVP once again provided four of the nine government members in the new government, the SPÖ was able to gain one seat in addition to its previous two government seats. While the Greens moved into the state government for the first time, the FPÖ lost both of its seats in government and was expelled from the state government. The ÖVP and the Greens subsequently decided on a labor agreement that went down in history as the first "black-green coalition" in Austria at a higher level. Despite the labor agreement, 99.33% of the decisions in the state government were subsequently unanimously.
Suffrage
With the Upper Austrian Electoral Law Amendment Act 2009, a comprehensive reform of the electoral law was passed by the state parliament on January 29, 2009. The reform of the electoral law included a lowering of the voting age, the introduction of postal voting and changes in the determination of the election results. The electoral law reform became necessary as a result of the amendment to the Federal Constitutional Law (Federal Law Gazette I No. 27/2007) and the Electoral Law Amendment Act (Federal Law Gazette I No. 28/2007). The lowering of the voting age decided at the federal level had to be anchored in state and municipal electoral law due to the homogeneity requirement, and the postal vote anchored in the federal constitution had to be implemented through implementing provisions at the state level. With the Upper Austrian Electoral Law Amendment Act 2009, the active voting age was subsequently reduced to 16 and the passive voting age to 18. In addition, the minimum age for the function of election witnesses, members of the electoral authority or person of trust in the electoral authority has been reduced to 16 years. The previous option of voting using a voting card has been replaced by the option of voting by postal vote. This means that for the first time in the Upper Austrian state elections, votes can also be cast by post. Another change concerned the determination of the preliminary election result on election day and the determination of the final election result.
Eligible voters
After the lowering of the voting age as a result of the 2009 Electoral Rights Amendment Act, all men and women who had reached the age of 16 on the day of the election and had Austrian citizenship on the cut-off date, June 5, 2009, had the right to stand for the state elections in 2009. In addition, those eligible to vote had to have their main residence in Upper Austria and could not be excluded from the right to vote. An exclusion from the right to vote exists in the event of a final conviction by a domestic court for one or more deliberate criminal acts to a prison sentence of more than one year. As a result of the lowering of the voting age, regional population dynamics, increasing life expectancy and naturalizations since the last state election, the number of eligible voters rose by around 66,900 to 1,086,327 people compared to the state elections in 2003, 559,872 of whom were women and 526,455 men. Of these, around 132,000 voters under the age of 24 were able to take part in a state election for the first time, with the 34,000 first-time voters between the ages of 16 and 17 benefiting from the lowering of the voting age. The average age of those eligible to vote was 48 years.
The active right to vote was held by all those eligible to vote who had reached the age of 18 on the day of the election at the latest, whereby the electoral reform also lowered the voting age for active voting from 19 to 18 years. In order to run for election, the campaigning parties had to submit declarations of support from at least 80 eligible voters in the constituency for each district election proposal. Accordingly, at least 400 declarations of support were required for a nationwide candidacy in all five constituencies.
Ballot
With the decision of the Upper Austrian Landtag on January 29, 2009, all parties represented in the Landtag agreed to hold the elections for the Landtag, the municipal council and mayors together on Sunday, September 27, 2009. The election was carried out in the five constituencies of Linz and the surrounding area, Innviertel, Hausruckviertel, Traunviertel and Mühlviertel.
Campaigning parties (list name)
Upper Austrian People's Party - List of Governor Dr. Josef Pühringer (ÖVP)
The ÖVP ran for the third time with Josef Pühringer as the top candidate, with the People's Party placing the incumbent governor at the center of its election campaign. Not only did the ÖVP's list name contain the governor's name, Pühringer was also present on all posters. While Pühringer was presented with the slogan "Because he is our governor" on the second series of posters, the ÖVP logo was missing from the posters. The poster series thus continued seamlessly with the ÖVP's summer campaign, in which Pühringer was advertised with the slogan “Because he loves Upper Austria”. Regarding the election goal of the ÖVP, Pühringer said that he wanted to “have a foursome in front”, ie at least 40% of the votes.
Thematically, the ÖVP put its “future program” “Upper Austria does more” at the center of the election campaign. The ÖVP's primary goal was to achieve full employment, i.e. less than four percent unemployed in Upper Austria. Furthermore, the ÖVP postulated the implementation of further business settlements, the expansion of the transport network, an increase in the flexibility of childcare and security at the center of its program. She also spoke out in favor of a commitment to regional hospital supply, a training offensive for nursing professions and investments in education and science. As a result, the ÖVP placed posters for Governor Pühringer along with the campaign on the subjects of jobs, families, security, education and free kindergarten.
Social Democratic Party of Upper Austria
The current Deputy Governor , Erich Haider , ran for the second time as the top candidate for the SPÖ.
The Greens Upper Austria - The Green Alternative
For the Greens again Rudi Anschober , the only member of the Greens in the state government, stood as the top candidate.
Freedom Party of Upper Austria
Manfred Haimbuchner ran for the first time for the FPÖ. The previous top candidate Lutz Weinzinger no longer ran.
Alliance Future Austria - List Uschi Haubner
Ursula Haubner competed for the BZÖ on September 27th. This is the first state election in Upper Austria since the BZÖ was established.
Communist Party of Upper Austria
With the top candidate Leo Furtlehner, the KPÖ entered the state elections as the “super red variant”.
The Christians of Upper Austria
The Christians competed with the top candidate and national chairwoman Martha Zethofer. It was also the first attempt for this party to be elected to the state parliament.
Not allowed: National People's Party
Due to alleged contacts with the National Socialist scene, there was a lively discussion about the candidacy of the National People's Party (NVP). The decision on the admission to the election by the state election authority was made on August 13, 2009, whereby the candidacy of the NVP in the constituency of Linz and the surrounding area was unanimously rejected by the state election authority. The NVP was not allowed to run for election because of dubious content in the election manifesto. In addition, the state electoral authority has announced a complaint against the NVP for violating the Prohibition Act .
Election result
Final election result
The turnout of 80.34% was higher than in the state elections in 2003 (78.65%), but not quite as high as in the 2008 National Council election (81.99%). In the state elections in Vorarlberg 2009 , which took place just a week earlier, only 67.41% of those entitled to vote took part.
| Political party | Results 2009 | Results 2003 | Differences | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| be right | % | Mand. | be right | % | Mand. | be right | % | Mand. | |
| total | 872.796 | 80.35% | 801.892 | 78.65% | + 70.904 | + 1.70% | |||
| Invalid | 16,569 | 20,807 | - 4,238 | ||||||
| Valid | 856.227 | 98.10% | 781.085 | 97.41% | +75.142 | + 0.69% | |||
| ÖVP | 400,365 | 46.76% | 28 | 339.179 | 43.42% | 25th | + 61,186 | + 3.34% | + 3 |
| SPÖ | 213,555 | 24.94% | 14th | 299,402 | 38.33% | 22nd | - 85,847 | - 13.39% | - 8th |
| GREEN | 78,569 | 9.18% | 5 | 70,742 | 9.06% | 5 | + 7,827 | + 0.12% | ± 0 |
| FPÖ | 130.937 | 15.29% | 9 | 65,643 | 8.40% | 4th | + 65,294 | + 6.89% | + 5 |
| BZÖ | 24,268 | 2.83% | 0 | nk | + 24,268 | + 2.83% | |||
| DC | 3,721 | 0.43% | 0 | nk | + 3,721 | + 0.43% | |||
| KPÖ | 4,812 | 0.56% | 0 | 6.119 | 0.78% | 0 | - 1,307 | - 0.22% | |
So all parties previously represented (ÖVP, SPÖ, FPÖ and Greens) are still represented in the state parliament. BZÖ, KPÖ and DC did not make it into the state parliament. However, there were significant postponements. The SPÖ suffered the greatest losses, but it remains the second strongest party in Upper Austria.
Federal Council
The result of the state elections also has an impact on the composition of the Austrian Federal Council , in which Upper Austria is represented by eleven mandataries due to its population. Due to the election result and its loss of votes, the Upper Austrian SPÖ lost two of its five Federal Council seats. One mandate each goes to ÖVP and FPÖ. After the constitution of the Landtag, the Upper Austrian Federal Council mandates are distributed among the parliamentary groups as follows: ÖVP 6 (+1), SPÖ 3 (−2), Greens 1 (± 0), FPÖ 1 (+1).
Individual evidence
- ↑ State of Upper Austria ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. List of election results
- ↑ derstandard.at "99 percent of government decisions unanimously - no legislative resolutions by the Greens against the ÖVP", September 15, 2009
- ↑ Upper Austria. Electoral Rights Amendment Act 2009
- ↑ nachrichten.at “Things worth knowing about the Upper Austria elections”, August 17, 2009
- ↑ Upper Austria. State election regulations § 20, Active right to vote (right to vote)
- ^ A b State of Upper Austria Information on the press conference with Viktor Sigl, Michael Gugler and Josef Gruber, August 17, 2009
- ↑ Upper Austria. State election regulation § 27, passive right to vote (eligibility)
- ↑ Upper Austria. Landtag election regulations § 28, district election proposal
- ^ Province of Upper Austria Upper Austria . Election Consolidation Act 2009
- ↑ a b nachrichten.at “VP: Alles auf Pühringer”, 11 August 2009
- ↑ derstandard.at Upper Austria election: Pühringer made demands on the federal government, August 21, 2009
- ^ ORF Upper Austria “ÖVP presented ten-point election program”, August 28, 2009
- ↑ ORF.at
