State election in Tyrol 2008
In the state elections in Tyrol on June 8, 2008 , in addition to the parties represented in the Tyrolean state parliament , ÖVP , SPÖ , Greens and FPÖ , the list of Fritz Dinkhauser of the Chamber of Labor President Fritz Dinkhauser (FRITZ), the KPÖ , and the Christians (DC) also ran. After the final result, the ÖVP lost its absolute majority in the state elections for the first time in the history of Tyrol. The SPÖ and the Greens also suffered heavy losses. Fritz Dinkhauser reached second place with his list of citizens and was named the winner of the state elections. The FPÖ was able to double its mandate. The KPÖ and Die Christians clearly failed to enter the state parliament.
requirements
Starting position
The FPÖ emerged from the state elections in 2003 as a big loser. It had lost more than 11 percent of the vote and, with around 8 percent of the vote, only came fourth among the parties represented in the state parliament. The ÖVP was able to gain around 3 percent of the votes due to the falling voter turnout, despite a strong loss of votes. With 49.9 percent of the vote, it narrowly missed the absolute majority of the votes, but achieved the absolute majority of the mandate. The SPÖ was able to improve its number of votes and gained around 4 percent to a share of the vote of 25.9 percent. The Greens recorded the greatest gains, almost doubling their share of the vote to 15.6 percent. The KPÖ was also able to increase its share of the vote sharply from 0.1 percent to 0.7 percent.
After the state elections, the ÖVP formed a coalition government with the SPÖ, although the ÖVP held an absolute majority of the mandates and could have governed alone. The ÖVP received six government seats, the SPÖ two. Herwig van Staa was confirmed as governor, and the SPÖ party chairman Hannes Gschwentner was elected as the first deputy governor. The two FPÖ MPs Wilfried Tilg and Erich Rappold briefly switched to the BZÖ during the legislative period , but shortly afterwards founded their own party, the Free Party of Tyrol (FPT). The FPT planned an electoral alliance with the BZÖ for the 2008 state elections, but this did not materialize. As a result, the two MPs canceled their candidacy in the state elections in early May 2008.
Suffrage
On January 30, 2008, the Tyrolean state parliament decided on a comprehensive reform of the electoral law. In addition to the lowering of the passive and active right to vote, the admission of "foreign Tyroleans" to the election as well as the postal vote was made possible. As a result of the change in the law, every state citizen who had reached the age of 16 on election day, June 8, 2008, was entitled to vote in the 2008 state elections. Eligible voters also had to have Austrian citizenship and a main residence in Tyrol and could not be excluded from the right to vote. An exclusion from the right to vote existed if a domestic court had legally sentenced a citizen to imprisonment for more than one year for one or more criminal acts committed with intent . After the electoral reform in 2008, Austrian citizens were also allowed to vote for the first time if they had their main residence in Tyrol before moving their main residence abroad and who met all other requirements for voting rights. These citizens were granted the right to vote for the duration of their stay abroad, but no longer than ten years. The electoral law reform also reduced passive voting rights. This gave all those who were actively eligible to vote for the 2008 state elections the right to stand as candidates, provided they were 18 on election day.
Ballot
On March 20, 2008, the state parliament decided to bring forward the state elections, which should normally have taken place in autumn 2008, with the votes of the ÖVP, SPÖ and the Greens. June 8, 2008 was chosen as the election day. Only the free members of parliament voted against bringing the election forward. The election was brought forward at the request of the state government, as the government crisis in the federal government feared that new elections for the National Council would coincide with the state elections.
While people with their main place of residence in Tyrol were automatically entered in the electoral register, “Tyroleans abroad” had to be entered in the electoral register in the respective municipality in good time. A corresponding application was required for this, which could be submitted in any technically possible way . After the reform of the electoral law, postal votes were also made possible for the first time in addition to personal voting in the home parish and voting using a voting card. With a voting card, those entitled to vote could vote in any polling station in Tyrol that accepted voting cards or, if bedridden was found, cast their vote to a “flying election commission” on site. The introduction of postal voting made it possible for the first time in the 2008 state elections to send the voting card by post from home or abroad to the responsible district electoral authority from receipt until the last polling station in Tyrol was closed. The voting card had to be received by 12:00 noon on the eighth day after the election day. The application for issuing a voting card was made to the mayor of the municipality in which the voter appeared in the electoral register. The application must be submitted in writing no later than the fourth day before the election day or orally by the second day before the election day (12:00 p.m.) at the latest.
Campaigning parties (list names)
Tyrolean People's Party - Herwig van Staa (ÖVP)
The ÖVP moved with Governor Herwig van Staa as the top candidate in the Tyrolean state election. At the center of the ÖVP election campaign were the successes of the ÖVP in the previous government period and the continuation of the government course. Important topics of the ÖVP election program were security, affordable housing, securing health care, expanding the rail network and securing jobs with a fair income.
Governor van Staa announced that he would have to get at least 40 percent of the votes in order to prevent a coalition between the SPÖ, Greens and Dinkhauser. Van Staa left all coalition variants open before the election, but described a collaboration with Fritz Dinkhauser as the “most unlikely variant”.
Social Democratic Party of Austria - Tyrol - Hannes Gschwentner (SPÖ)
The SPÖ ran in the state elections with the top candidate and chairman of the SPÖ Tyrol Hannes Gschwentner . In its election program “There is enough for everyone”, the SPÖ put job security, the guarantee of education and the protection of the health system at the center. Other important subject areas of the SPÖ were the everyday conditions of workers, the future of young people, equal opportunities for women and the security of the older generation. In its poster campaign, the SPÖ called for an improvement in childcare, a reduction in housing costs, more work for young people and an increase in incomes.
Gschwendtner named holding the nine state parliament mandates and continuing participation in the government as the election goal. Gschwentner announced that he would talk to all parties after the election. However, due to the FPÖ's policy on foreigners, the top candidate did not consider it likely that the talks would go “beyond careful exploration”.
The Greens - The Green Alternative Tyrol (GREEN)
The Greens nominated the state spokesman of the Tyrolean Greens and club chairman in the state parliament Georg Willi as the top candidate for the state elections . In their election program “Tirol gets the curve”, the Greens opposed the ÖVP's “post cheat” and demanded the return of the community grounds from the agricultural communities. Other topics addressed by the Greens were nature conservation and soft tourism, reducing transit, expanding public transport, promoting women, families and young people, and the “energy transition”.
Georg Willi stated that the voting goal should be 20 percent of the vote. Party leader Alexander Van der Bellen also advocated participation in government after the election. However, Willi announced that he only wanted to form a coalition with an ÖVP without Governor Van Staa and Provincial Councilor Anton Steixner . In principle, the Greens ruled out a coalition with the FPÖ.
Freedom Party of Austria - the Tyrolean Freedom Party (FPÖ)
The FPÖ ran as the top candidate in the 2008 state elections in Tyrol with its regional party chairman and member of the National Council, Gerald Hauser . After the BZÖ split off, the FPÖ was not represented in the state parliament, as the two elected FPÖ members of the state parliament had turned to the BZÖ and were excluded from the FPÖ. They subsequently founded the Free Party of Tyrol (FPT), but canceled their planned candidacy a few weeks before the election.
During the election campaign, the FPÖ spoke out against the EU reform treaty and the alleged "Islamization of Tyrol", with the FPÖ calling for a ban on mosques and minarets to be built. In addition, the FPÖ called for “negative immigration” in the election campaign. FPÖ boss Hauser also spoke out in favor of combating poverty in Tyrol and called for families to be strengthened. Family allowances, child benefits as well as extensive health benefits and subsidized housing should only be given to Austrian citizens. Hauser said that the election goal was to achieve a double-digit result and three to four state parliament mandates. Hauser would form a coalition with all parties except the Greens, but he announced that he would not elect a loser as governor.
Youth policy list with the communist youth (KPÖ)
The KPÖ entered the state elections in 2008 with the list name Jugendpolitische Liste with the communist youth (KPÖ) . A state-wide candidacy was made possible for the first time since 1961 by the declarations of support by the Green Landtag members. As the name of the list makes clear, the KPÖ is particularly committed to helping young people in its election campaign. Among other things, the KPÖ is calling for an educational reform, compulsory training for companies and the inclusion of the young population in all important institutions. Furthermore, the KPÖ called for a reduction in working hours with full wage compensation, minimum wages, equal rights for women, affordable housing and the expansion of public transport. The youth policy approach of the KPÖ election campaign was underlined by the age of the three top performers, each under 30 years old. The top candidate of the KPÖ Tirol was the locksmith's apprentice Julian Nothdurfter, who was 18 years old at the time of the state elections.
The Christians (DC)
After the state elections in Lower Austria in 2008, Christians ran for the second time in elections. The top candidate of the party founded in 2005 was the country chairman and retired insurance advisor Franz Lair. According to its own statements, the party campaigned for the implementation of “Christian values”. The focus was on the “protection of life from conception to natural death” and “marriage as a faithful love and life community between man and woman”. Furthermore, the Christians demanded extensive relief for families.
Fritz Dinkhauser - Citizens' Forum Tyrol (FRITZ)
The Fritz Dinkhauser List - Bürgerforum Tirol was founded by the top candidate Fritz Dinkhauser and ran for the first time in the 2008 state elections. In its election manifesto, the list identifies "fair distribution, ending the clergy and a policy that puts people first" as central issues. The demands of the citizens' list included affordable housing, family support, an extensive social package and an education offensive. Other concerns of the citizens' list were the return of land from the agricultural communities to the municipalities and the strengthening of the legal position of the state of Tyrol and the municipalities. In addition to Dinkhauser, the third-place chairman of the Transitforum Austria Fritz Gurgiser was the most prominent candidate.
Dinkhauser set the minimum target to skip the ten percent mark. For a possible coalition, he preferred to work with the SPÖ and the Greens after the election. Dinkhauser decidedly ruled out a collaboration with Governor Van Staa; on June 1st he announced that he would not work with any successors either. However, three days later Dinkhauser declared that he would be available for a coalition with the ÖVP under certain conditions.
Campaign budgets
The Tyrolean parties spent more than 3 million euros on the 2008 state election campaign. The ÖVP had the highest campaign budget, which cost 1.5 million euros for the campaign. This was 300,000 euros more than in the 2003 election. However, this did not include the budgets of the ÖVP sub-organizations, Bauernbund, Wirtschaftsbund or AAB. The SPÖ, which spent 700,000 euros on the election campaign, had the second largest budget, 100,000 euros more than in 2003. The Greens invested 400,000 euros in the election campaign, the Dinkhauser list raised 350,000 euros. The FPÖ gave no information about their campaign budget. The KPÖ's campaign budget was, according to its own statements, 5,500 euros. The Christians used 10,000 euros from donations and savings for their election campaign.
In Tyrol, only those parties that made it into the state parliament received an election campaign refund. The available amount was divided between the parties according to the election result.
Survey
In mid-May 2008, the Tiroler Tageszeitung presented a survey by the market and opinion research institute “market” (1,000 respondents) on the 2008 state elections. The survey predicted heavy losses for the ÖVP, and the SPÖ, too, had clearly lost votes. "Market" forecast the ÖVP 39 percent and the SPÖ 22 percent. In the 2003 state elections, the ÖVP had achieved 49.9 percent and the SPÖ 25.9 percent. ÖVP and SPÖ also lost compared to a survey from September 2007, in which the ÖVP had achieved 44 percent and the SPÖ 26 percent. "Market" also calculated 16 percent for the Greens, 13 percent for Fritz Dinkhauser and 9 percent for the FPÖ. The market survey also recorded the coalition preferences of the respondents. 28 percent of those surveyed spoke out in favor of continuing the ÖVP-SPÖ government coalition. 14 percent favored a coalition of the ÖVP and the FRITZ list, 9 percent a coalition of the ÖVP and the Greens and 7 percent an ÖVP-FPÖ coalition. 10 percent voted for a coalition of the SPÖ, Greens and FRITZ.
On May 10, the daily newspaper Austria published a survey by the opinion institute Gallup, which produced similar results. According to Gallup, the ÖVP would have received 41 percent of the vote, the SPÖ would have achieved 21 percent. According to Gallup, the Greens were able to achieve 18 percent and thus slight profits, The list FRITZ with 12 percent was safe in the state parliament. According to the survey, the FPÖ would get 8 percent of the vote. In addition to the election results, Gallup also asked which candidate the voters would vote for in the event of a direct election as governor. According to this, incumbent Herwig van Staa would have only got 28 percent, Fritz Dinkhauser would have achieved 22 percent. Deputy Governor Hannes Gschwentner elected 14 percent, Green leader Georg Willi 8 percent in a direct election.
A Gallup survey presented by the Austrian daily newspaper at the end of May predicted even heavier losses for the ÖVP and the SPÖ, which means that they would have only achieved 40 and 19 percent respectively. The Greens also slipped 14 percent below their previous polls. According to the poll, the Dinkhauser list would have received 17 percent of the vote. The FPÖ remained 10 percent.
Election result
Overall result
The ÖVP was unable to defend its absolute majority in the state elections in 2008 and, according to the official final result, only received 40.5 percent of the votes with a minus of 9.4 percentage points. The ÖVP Tirol also lost four of its 20 seats to date and achieved the worst election result in its history. The SPÖ suffered even heavier losses than the ÖVP and, after a minus of 10.2 percentage points, only came to 15.5 percent. For the SPÖ Tirol, too, the election result meant the worst result since 1945. It lost four of its nine seats and fell back to third place. Second place went to Fritz Dinkhauser, who got 18.4 percent of the vote and seven seats with his list. With a share of the vote of 12.4 percent, the FPÖ was able to gain 4.5 percentage points and double its mandate to four, but remained far behind the results it had achieved in 1999. The Greens lost 4.6 percentage points and, with 10.7 percent, were only fifth among the candidate parties. In addition, the Greens had to give up one of their five mandates. Sixth place went to the Christians, who exceeded the KPÖ with 1.4 percent. However, the KPÖ was able to increase its share of the vote from 0.7 percent to 1.2 percent. However, both parties clearly missed the five percent hurdle for entry into the state parliament.
| Results 2008 | Results 2003 | Differences | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| be right | % | Mand. | be right | % | Mand. | be right | % | Mand. | |
| total | 342.713 | 65.84% | 36 | 294,527 | 60.91% | 36 | + 48,186 | + 4.93% | |
| Invalid | 5,932 | 4,350 | + 1,582 | ||||||
| Valid | 336.781 | 98.27% | 290.177 | 98.52% | +46,604 | - 0.25% | |||
| Political party | |||||||||
| Austrian People's Party | 136.401 | 40.50% | 16 | 143,456 | 49.89% | 20th | - 7,055 | - 9.39% | - 4th |
| Social Democratic Party of Austria | 52,066 | 15.46% | 5 | 74,580 | 25.85% | 9 | - 22,514 | - 10.39% | - 4th |
| The Greens - The Green Alternative | 36,136 | 10.73% | 4th | 44,424 | 15.59% | 5 | - 8,288 | - 4.86% | - 1 |
| Freedom Party of Austria | 41,788 | 12.41% | 4th | 22,981 | 7.97% | 2 | + 18.807 | + 4.44% | + 2 |
| Communist Party of Austria | 3,896 | 1.16% | 0 | 2,024 | 0.70% | 0 | + 1,872 | + 0.46% | ± 0 |
| The Christs | 4,699 | 1.40% | 0 | nk | + 4,699 | + 1.40% | |||
| List Fritz Dinkhauser - Bürgerforum Tirol | 61,795 | 18.35% | 7th | nk | + 61,795 | + 18.35% | + 7 | ||
Preferential votes
In the state elections in Tyrol, preferential votes could only be given in the district electoral districts, but not at the state level. The figures are therefore only partially comparable due to the different number of eligible voters in the constituencies. The highest number of preferential votes was achieved by Provincial Councilor Anton Steixner (ÖVP), ahead of Provincial Councilor Erwin Koler (ÖVP) and the deputy club chairman Jakob Wolf . Governor Herwig van Staa only achieved the fifth highest number. The first 14 places were occupied almost exclusively by ÖVP politicians, only Fritz Dinkhauser achieved the eighth highest number of preferential votes. SPÖ leader Hannes Gschwentner was 15th with 2,741 votes, FPÖ top candidate Gerald Hauser was 16th with 2,423 votes and the Green Club Chairman Georg Willi was 18th with 2,184 votes.
| space | Surname | Political party | Constituency | be right |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Anton Steixner | ÖVP | Innsbruck country | 5,684 |
| 2. | Erwin Koler | ÖVP | Landeck | 5,454 |
| 3. | Jakob Wolf | ÖVP | Imst | 5.123 |
| 4th | Andreas Koell | ÖVP | Lienz | 4,869 |
| 5. | Herwig van Staa | ÖVP | Innsbruck city | 4,760 |
| 6th | Anna Hosp | ÖVP | Reutte | 4,612 |
| 7th | Johannes Bodner | ÖVP | Kufstein | 4,502 |
| 8th. | Friedrich Dinkhauser | FRITZ | Innsbruck city | 4,312 |
| 9. | Josef Geisler | ÖVP | Innsbruck city | 4,232 |
| 10. | Franz Berger | ÖVP | Kitzbühel | 4,028 |
Voter flow analysis
For the state elections in Tyrol, the social research institute SORA published a voter flow analysis after the election . According to the analysis, the ÖVP lost mainly votes to non-voters (16,000 votes), to FRITZ (7,000) and the FPÖ (4,000). Only from the SPÖ could the ÖVP win 3,000 votes. The SPÖ lost most of the votes to the group of non-voters (15,000), but also lost to the FRITZ list (9,000) and the FPÖ (5,000). Fritz Dinkhauser received most of his votes from former non-voters (30,000) and was also able to withdraw votes from all established parties. FRITZ received the most votes from the SPÖ (9,000), followed by the Greens (8,000), the ÖVP (7,000) and the FPÖ (5,000). The FPÖ was also able to score strongly with non-voters. It was able to convince 9,000 votes from this group and was also able to convince 5,000 former SPÖ voters and 4,000 former ÖVP voters. The Greens lost their votes to the FRITZ list (8,000) and the non-voters (5,000).
Effects
After the ÖVP's election defeat on June 8th, Herwig van Staa resigned from his position as governor on June 23rd. The then Interior Minister Günther Platter was appointed as his successor . Despite the heavy losses, the ÖVP and SPÖ continued the coalition in Tyrol. Even after the election, the FPÖ stuck to its announcement that it would not elect any of the losers as governor. The ÖVP did not hold coalition talks with Fritz Dinkhauser after Dinkhauser had demanded the resignation of Governor van Staa and Provincial Councilor Steixner after the election. Another reason for the failure of a coalition between ÖVP and Dinkhauser was the rejection of the Brenner Base Tunnel, the expansion of hydropower and the realization of the Tschirgant Tunnel by Fritz Dinkhauser.
The defeat of the SPÖ in the state elections increased the pressure on SPÖ Federal Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer after the losses in the Graz municipal council elections and the state elections in Lower Austria . Gusenbauer had to hand over the chairmanship to Infrastructure Minister Werner Faymann in mid-June . The ongoing differences between the ÖVP and the SPÖ at the federal level subsequently led to early national elections . Due to the success in the state elections in Tyrol, Fritz Dinkhauser also ran for the National Council election, but failed to make it into parliament.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Land Tirol ( Memento of the original from June 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Result of the state elections in 2003
- ^ Die Presse Online Tirol-Wahl: "Freie Tiroler" give up, May 2nd, 2008
- ↑ ORF Tyrol Tyrolean state parliament decides to vote from January 16, 31, 2008
- ↑ Tyrolean Landtag election regulations 2008, § 4
- ↑ Provincial Law Gazette for Tyrol. Law of January 30th, 2008, with which the Tyrolean state election order 2002 is changed.
- ^ ORF Tirol Landtag cleared the way for new elections, March 20, 2008
- ↑ Tiroler Landtag ( Memento of the original from May 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Overview of the legal innovations
- ^ ORF Tirol Wahl '08: The campaigning parties, May 28, 2008
- ↑ Kleine Zeitung Online ÖVP "must" receive over 40 percent according to Van Staa, May 29, 2008
- ↑ ORF Tirol parties conclude election campaign, June 6, 2008
- ^ Die Presse Online Tirol-Wahl: "This is a sham", May 15, 2008
- ↑ Speed dial program of the Tyrolean Greens ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Die Presse Online Grüne in Tirol: No coalition with Van Staa, June 3, 2008
- ↑ We Austrians in Tyrol ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 1 MB) - FPÖ Tirol
- ↑ The Standard Online Hauser expects three to four mandates, May 29, 2008
- ^ ORF Tirol state election: Green declarations of support for KPÖ, April 28, 2008
- ↑ a b c ORF Tirol state election: micro-parties fight for every vote, May 26, 2008
- ↑ Electoral program of the KPÖ Tirol (PDF file; 65 kB)
- ^ Party program of the Dinkhauser list
- ↑ Kleine Zeitung Online Dinkhauser set a minimum target of ten percent, June 4, 2008
- ↑ Oberösterreichische Nachrichten Online ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Dinkhauser for Red-Green, May 27, 2008
- ↑ ORF Tirol Dinkhauser excludes coalition with ÖVP, June 1, 2008
- ^ ORF Tirol Dinkhauser again willing to form a coalition, June 4, 2008
- ↑ a b c d e Kleine Zeitung Online ÖVP has the largest campaign budget, May 14, 2008
- ↑ tt.com ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Favorite role for marriage VP-SP, May 16, 2008
- ↑ Austria Austria-Umfrag: ÖVP loses Dinkhauser creates catchment in Tirol, May 10, 2008
- ^ Oe24.at ÖVP and SPÖ in Tyrolean state elections before a debacle, May 30, 2008
- ↑ Land Tirol ( Memento of the original from July 6, 2011 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. - Final result of the state elections in 2008
- ↑ SORA ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Voter analysis of the Tyrolean elections in 2008, the votes are given in net values
- ↑ ORF Tirol After the election: FPÖ remains on the line when probing, June 12, 2008
- ^ ORF Tirol exploratory talks: ÖVP-Greens possible, ÖVP-SPÖ likely, June 13, 2008
- ^ Die Presse Online ÖVP and SPÖ start coalition negotiations on June 18, 2008
Web links
- State election 2008 on the website of the state of Tyrol
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