The 2019 Vorarlberg state election was held on 13 October 2019 to elect the members of the Landtag of

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the ...

. The election was marked by major losses for the

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Au ...

(FPÖ), with all other parties benefiting as a result. The

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is curr ...

(ÖVP) and

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

(SPÖ) each improved their vote share for the first time since 2004, though the former failed to regain the absolute majority it had lost in 2014.

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra *Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Greens of Burkina *Greens (Greece) *Greens of Montenegro * Greens of Serbia * Gree ...

moved into second place with a strong result of 18.9%. NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS) sought re-election to a Landtag for the first time and improved its performance to 8.5%. The election took place just two weeks after the

federal election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

in September, and was viewed as a boost to the prospect of an ÖVP–Green federal coalition, which would mirror the composition of the incumbent Voralberg government. The ÖVP–Green government under Governor

Markus Wallner Markus Wallner (born 20 July 1967) is an Austrian politician ( ÖVP). Since 2011, he has been the governor of Vorarlberg. Life and work Markus Wallner was born on 20 July 1967, the son of Herwig and Theresia Wallner in the district capital of ...

was renewed and took office in November.

Background

In the 2014 election, the ÖVP suffered major losses, primarily to the Greens and new party NEOS, and lost its majority. The party subsequently formed a coalition with the Greens.

Electoral system

The 36 seats of the Landtag of Vorarlberg are elected via

open list Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, p ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between four multi-member constituencies, corresponding to the

districts of Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with t ...

. For parties to receive any representation in the Landtag, they must either win at least one seat in a constituency directly, or clear a 5 percent state-wide electoral threshold. Seats are distributed in constituencies according to the

Hagenbach-Bischoff quota The Hagenbach-Bischoff quota (also known as the Newland-Britton quota or the exact Droop quota, as opposed to the more common rounded Droop quota) is a formula used in some voting systems based on proportional representation (PR). It is used in ...

, with any remaining seats allocated at the state level, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's vote share and its share of seats.

Contesting parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag. In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, seven parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. * Home to all Cultures (''HAK'') * Xi – Future Opportunity (''XI'') * The Change (''WANDEL'') * WIR – Platform for Families and Child Protection (''WIR'') * Men's Party (''M'') *

Christian Party of Austria The Christian Party of Austria (german: Christliche Partei Österreichs, CPÖ; formerly the Christians – german: Die Christen) is a minor political party in Austria, founded on 15 October 2005. It changed its name under its new chairman Rudol ...

(''CPÖ'') *

My Vote Counts! My Vote Counts! (German: ''Meine Stimme Gilt!''), abbreviated as G!LT, is a political party in Austria. It was founded on 14 August 2016 by Roland Düringer, a popular Austrian comedian. It defines itself not as a party but as an un-party (German: ...

(''GILT'')

Result

Results by constituency

Aftermath

Governor Wallner held discussions with all parties before entering coalition talks with the Greens. They came to an agreement on 4 November, which was approved by both parties.

References

{{Austrian local elections 2019 elections in Austria State elections in Austria October 2019 events in Austria