FPÖ triumphs: Styrian state election with a historical result
FPÖ triumphs: Styrian state election with a historical result
The political landscape in Styria has changed significantly with the recent state elections. According to the temporary result, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) achieved 34.8 percent of the vote, which corresponds to an impressive plus of over 17 percentage points compared to the last election. This marks the historically best result of the FPÖ in Styria. It is the second time in history that the freedoms achieve a majority in an entire state.
While the FPÖ is happy about its triumphant victory, the ÖVP looks at its worst election result in history with only 26.8 percent. This is a decline in more than nine percentage points that exceeds the previous negative brand of 28.45 percent from 2015.
SPÖ loses the floor
The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) also experienced a bitter disappointment and slipped to third place. With 21.4 percent of the vote, the party recorded a minus of 1.6 percentage points. These results are particularly devastating because the SPÖ already reached a historical low in the last state election in 2019.
The small parties also got a damper. The Greens come to only 6.2 percent of the vote, which corresponds to a decline of almost six percentage points. The Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) was also unable to escape a minus of 1.6 percentage points at 4.4 percent. A small ray of hope was recorded for the NEOS, which with 5.9 percent of the vote could achieve a slight increase of 0.5 percentage points. The lists KFG, MFG and DNA, which only occurred in the Graz constituency, clearly failed due to the election.
new distribution of mandate
The election results result in a significant change in the distribution of mandate. The FPÖ will receive a total of 17 mandates for the next five years, while the ÖVP slips to 13 mandates. The SPÖ can still secure eleven seats. The Greens lose half of their mandates and will only be represented with three MPs in the future. The KPÖ and the NEOS both had two seats, should the current situation confirm.
The possibility of continuing a black and red coalition under Governor Christopher Drexler (ÖVP) is therefore severely restricted. The former major parties would have to fall back on the support of one of the three smaller parties in order to be able to form a new government. With the Greens or Neos, black and red could reach 27 seats together, while a cooperation with the KPÖ would mean 26 seats.
A total of 941,509 people were entitled to vote in the state election, and the turnout was 70 percent. This is an encouraging increase compared to the record low of 63.46 percent in 2019 when less than two thirds of the eligible votes.
The election day is also overshadowed by the ongoing government negotiations and their influence on the election results. It is speculated that the FPÖ has benefited from dissatisfaction with the federal political negotiations. A fact that Governor Drexler previously criticized several times.
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