2003 Lower Austrian state election

30 March 2003

All 56 seats in the Landtag of Lower Austria
29 seats needed for a majority
All 9 seats in the state government
Turnout937,487 (71.8%)
Decrease 0.2%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Erwin Pröll Heidemaria Onodi
Party ÖVP SPÖ
Last election 27 seats, 44.9% 18 seats, 30.4%
Seats won 31 19
Seat change Increase 4 Increase 1
Popular vote 491,065 309,199
Percentage 53.3% 33.6%
Swing Increase 8.4% Increase 3.2%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Greens FPÖ
Last election 2 seats, 4.5% 9 seats, 16.1%
Seats won 4 2
Seat change Increase 2 Decrease 7
Popular vote 66,543 41,391
Percentage 7.2% 4.5%
Swing Increase 2.7% Decrease 11.6%

Governor before election

Erwin Pröll
ÖVP

Elected Governor

Erwin Pröll
ÖVP

The 2003 Lower Austrian state election was held on 30 March 2003 to elect the members of the Landtag of Lower Austria.

The election was won by the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), who won an absolute majority in the Landtag for the first time since 1988. They achieved a strong swing of 8.4 percentage points. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and The Greens also made gains; this was enabled by the collapse of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The FPÖ lost almost three-quarters of its vote share and only narrowly passed the 4% electoral threshold, falling from nine seats to just two.[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 1998 election, the ÖVP had five councillors, the SPÖ three, 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-one 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.

Name Ideology Leader 1998 result
Votes (%) Seats Councillors
ÖVP Austrian People's Party
Österreichische Volkspartei
Christian democracy Erwin Pröll 44.9%
27 / 56
5 / 9
SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Social democracy Heidemaria Onodi 30.4%
18 / 56
3 / 9
FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
 ? 16.1%
9 / 56
1 / 9
GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative
Green politics  ? 4.5%
2 / 56

In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, three parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.[3]

  • Green independent Austria – List of EU Opposition Gabriela Wladyka (GRÜNÖ)
  • Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)
  • Christian Voter Community (CWG)

Results

Party Votes  % +/− Seats +/− Coun. +/−
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 491,065 53.29 +8.42 31 +4 6 +1
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 309,199 33.55 +3.16 19 +1 3 ±0
The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 66,543 7.22 +2.73 4 +2 0 ±0
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 41,391 4.49 –11.59 2 –7 0 –1
Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 7,074 0.77 +0.13 0 ±0 0 ±0
Green independent Austria (GRÜNÖ) 6,013 0.65 New 0 New 0 New
Christian Voter Community (CWG) 187 0.02 New 0 New 0 New
Invalid/blank votes 16,015
Total 937,487 100 56 0 9 0
Registered voters/turnout 1,305,950 71.79 –0.16
Source: Lower Austrian Government
Popular vote
ÖVP
53.29%
SPÖ
33.55%
GRÜNE
7.22%
FPÖ
4.49%
Other
1.44%
Landtag seats
ÖVP
55.36%
SPÖ
33.93%
GRÜNE
7.14%
FPÖ
3.57%

Results by constituency

Constituency ÖVP SPÖ Grüne FPÖ Others Total
seats
Turnout
 %S  %S  %S  %S  %
Amstetten58.4330.316.53.61.2476.7
Baden45.7239.518.15.01.6366.4
Bruck an der Leitha48.439.75.94.81.2071.1
Gänserndorf48.4139.616.04.61.5269.7
Gmünd48.242.13.84.51.3075.6
Hollabrunn61.1127.95.34.61.1174.3
Horn67.3122.65.24.00.9176.6
Korneuburg54.7130.19.04.81.4168.8
Krems an der Donau59.2227.67.14.61.6274.6
Lilienfeld48.441.24.64.21.6078.0
Melk55.6133.115.24.81.3277.8
Mistelbach60.3227.86.34.31.3274.8
Mödling50.0228.7114.35.02.0362.9
Neunkirchen47.8141.016.33.81.2272.7
Sankt Pölten48.4237.927.64.31.7474.2
Scheibbs62.6126.85.83.51.3178.5
Tulln57.8128.97.34.51.5174.4
Waidhofen an der Thaya61.526.14.96.11.4074.9
Wiener Neustadt48.6240.016.13.81.4369.3
Vienna Surrounds44.0136.9112.05.41.87261.9
Zwettl69.0120.15.14.71.1178.1
Remaining seats694221
Total53.33133.6197.244.521.45671.8
Source: Lower Austrian Government

References

  1. "The World This Week". The Economist. 2003-04-05. p. 8.
  2. "ROS - NÖ Landtag electoral law 1992 - State law for Lower Austria, version of 04.08.2020". Lower Austrian Government.
  3. "Parties". Lower Austrian Government.
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