The last state election was held in Vorarlberg in 2019. The ÖVP was the strongest party with 43.5 percent, the Greens came second with 18.9 percent. The FPÖ was third with 13.9 percent, and the SPÖ was fourth with 9.5 percent. NEOS got 8.5 percent. The small parties that stood for the election in 2019 did not make it over the five percent threshold. After the election, the ÖVP and the Greens decided to continue their coalition government.
There will be nine parties and lists in the election on October 13. In addition to the five state parliamentary parties ÖVP, Greens, FPÖ, SPÖ and NEOS, these are the small parties Family Platform WIR, the electoral alliance Xi-HaK-Gilt, the KPÖ and the open electoral platform The Other Vorarlberg.
debate
What effect will the Vorarlberg election have?
271,882 eligible voters
A total of 271,882 Vorarlberg residents are eligible to vote. The polling stations for the 319 districts will not open until 6:45 am at the earliest. In 19 of the 96 municipalities, including four cities and three municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, polling stations are open until 1 pm Then, on average, almost a third of the 96 communities have been counted. That’s about five percent of those eligible to vote.
First screening around 2:30 pm
The Foresight Institute is preparing the first forecast for APA and ORF, which is expected to be published around 2:30 pm Vorarlberg election results are usually available on Sunday between 5 pm and 6 pm and include most of the votes already post. The remainder and absentee ballots cast in foreign constituencies will be counted on the Tuesday after the election.
Ask about the head-to-head race
After the good performance of the FPÖ and the loss of the ÖVP in the National Council election, state governor Markus Wallner (ÖVP) called for a duel with FPÖ chairman Christof Bitschi. Although the People’s Party won more votes than the Freedom Party in Vorarlberg on September 29, the election of the National Council highlights the election of the state parliament.
If the results of the National Council elections were used to calculate the distribution of seats in the state parliament, the ÖVP would be on par with the FPÖ. Both would have eleven mandates in the state parliament. SPÖ and NEOS would each have five seats, the Greens four. This would also mean that only the ÖVP and the FPÖ could form a two-party coalition.
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The number of voters is crucial in the ÖVP-FPÖ duel
However, the result on Sunday is unlikely to be exactly the same. On the one hand, voter turnout in state elections has always been lower than in National Council elections since compulsory voting was abolished in 2004, and on the other hand, the People’s Party has been able to achieve higher results at always state level. The Greens also regularly performed better in state elections than in National Council elections. It remains to be seen whether there will really be a one-on-one race between the People’s Party and the Freedom Party.
Everything remains possible
The parties start on Sunday with the respective federal trend behind them. It became clear five years ago that there could still be significant differences in results. At that time, the ÖVP won 6.9 percentage points more in the state elections than in the National Council election two weeks earlier. It was still far from everyday – of course, this also applies to other parties.
Although the People’s Party was still over 70 percent at the start of the Second Republic, the SPÖ was on the rise in the 1960s. The results of the FPÖ, which recently lost significant popularity after the “Ibiza” and an internal spending scandal in the federal party, were characterized by continuous rise and fall. On the other hand, the Greens and NEOS are starting the election with their best results. It will be up to the voters to decide whether this will once again set peaks or troughs for the state parties.