2013 Lower Austrian state election

← 2008 3 March 2013 2018 →
All 56 seats in the Landtag of Lower Austria 29 seats needed for a majority All 9 seats in the state government
Turnout	975,746 (70.9%) 3.6%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Erwin Pröll Josef Leitner Frank Stronach Party ÖVP SPÖ Stronach Last election 31 seats, 54.4% 15 seats, 25.5% Did not exist Seats won 30 13 5 Seat change 1 2 5 Popular vote 495,557 210,504 96,016 Percentage 50.8% 21.6% 9.8% Swing 3.6% 3.9% New party   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Barbara Rosenkranz Madeleine Petrovic Party FPÖ Greens Leader since 2008 Last election 6 seats, 10.5% 4 seats, 6.9% Seats won 4 4 Seat change 2 0 Popular vote 80,122 78,678 Percentage 8.2% 8.1% Swing 2.3% 1.2%
Results by municipality.
Governor before election Erwin Pröll ÖVP Elected Governor Erwin Pröll ÖVP

The 2013 Lower Austrian state election was held on 3 March 2013 to elect the members of the Landtag of Lower Austria.

The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) retained its majority. The main winner of the election was the new Team Stronach, which debuted at 9.8%. It drew votes from the ÖVP, Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).^[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 2008 election, the ÖVP had six councillors, the SPÖ two, 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 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, five parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.^[3]

• Team Stronach (FRANK)
• Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) – on the ballot only in 19 constituencies
• The Brave Citizens (MUT) – on the ballot only in 13 constituencies
• Christian Party of Austria – Centre Party (CPÖMP) – on the ballot only in 4 constituencies
• Pirate Party of Austria (PIRAT) – on the ballot only in 1 constituency

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Coun.	+/−
	Austrian People's Party (ÖVP)	495,557	50.79	–3.60	30	–1	6	±0
	Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ)	210,504	21.57	–3.94	13	–2	2	±0
	Team Stronach (FRANK)	90,016	9.84	New	5	New	1	New
	Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ)	80,122	8.21	–2.26	4	–2	0	–1
	The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE)	78,678	8.06	+1.15	4	±0	0	±0
	Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)	7,559	0.77	–0.09	0	±0	0	±0
	The Brave Citizens (MUT)	5,968	0.61	New	0	New	0	New
	Christian Party of Austria – Centre Party (CPÖMP)	841	0.09	–0.75	0	±0	0	±0
	Pirate Party of Austria (PIRAT)	501	0.05	+0.05	0	±0	0	±0
Invalid/blank votes		19,527	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total		995,273	100	–	56	0	9	0
Registered voters/turnout		1,404,454	70.87	–3.64	–	–	–	–
Source: Lower Austrian Government

Results by constituency

Preference votes

Alongside votes for a party, voters were able to cast a preferential votes for a candidate on the party list. The ten candidates with the most preferential votes were as follows:^[4]

Aftermath

The ÖVP retained its Landtag majority and six out of nine state councillors; the SPÖ also retained its two councillors. The FPÖ lost their sole state councillor to Team Stronach.