2023 Lower Austrian state election

The Lower Austrian constitution mandates that cabinet positions in the state government (state councillors, German: Landesräte) be allocated amongst parties proportionally to 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 2018 election, ÖVP had six councillors, the SPÖ two, and the FPÖ one. A party has to win at least 10 to 12 percent of the vote to receive a seat in the state government.[3]

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 four percent statewide 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.[4]

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag.

Parties not currently represented in the state parliament of Lower Austria had until 23 December 2022 to submit the necessary signatures and paperwork to gain ballot access, either in individual constituencies or statewide.

In addition to the 5 parties represented in the state parliament, all of which are on the ballot statewide, another 3 parties gained ballot access:

• MFG Austria – People Freedom Fundamental Rights: (only in 5/20 constituencies: Baden, Krems, Mödling, St. Pölten and Tulln)
• KPÖ Plus – offene Liste: (only in 4/20 constituencies: Amstetten, Bruck an der Leitha, St. Pölten and Wiener Neustadt)
• ZIEL - Dein Ziel: (only in 1/20 constituencies: Amstetten)

After the Austrian ÖVP-led federal government vetoed Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen Area, it was accused of having done so out of fear of losing seats in the Lower Austrian state election, with the FPÖ rising in opinion polls.[8]

Sven Hergovich

Gottfried Waldhäusl

After the election, the SPÖ replaced their party leader Franz Schnabl with Sven Hergovich - the current Lower Austrian leader of the Austrian Labor Market Service for the unemployed (AMS).

Due to the Proporz system in Lower Austria, the ÖVP now gets 4 of the 9 state government councilors, the FPÖ 3 and the SPÖ 2.

Official talks between the ÖVP and the other parties to create a possible coalition or working agreement in the newly elected Landtag started right after the election.

A widely-perceived racist slur by FPÖ state councilor Gottfried Waldhäusl at a TV debate with high school students made a formal working agreement or coalition between the ÖVP and FPÖ unlikely - increasing instead the likelihood of a formal ÖVP-SPÖ working agreement or coalition in the Landtag. The widely-perceived racist slur by FPÖ state councilor Gottfried Waldhäusl was followed by a propaganda attack on the school of the students who participated in the TV debate with Waldhäusl, with unknown perpetrators dropping xenophobic leaflets and posters on the school grounds. Waldhäusl's comments and the xenophobic attack on the school prompted all other parties to sharply condemn Waldhäusl and the FPÖ. Meanwhile, the FPÖ either defended Waldhäusl or remained silent. Erwin Angerer, FPÖ lead candidate for the upcoming 2023 Carinthian state election on 5 March, said that he wouldn't have phrased Waldhäusl's comments the way he did, distancing himself somewhat from his party colleague. The FPÖ's general secretary Michael Schnedlitz, as well as party leader Herbert Kickl defended Waldhäusl's comments, while the FPÖ-leaders of Upper Austria, Tyrol and Salzburg were critical, saying "well-integrated high school students with a migrant background are the wrong target for failed immigration policy". Salzburg, like Carinthia, will vote later this year in the 2023 Salzburg state election on 23 April.

On 14 February 2023, the ÖVP started in-depth coalition talks with the SPÖ.[9]

On 9 March 2023, coalition talks between ÖVP and SPÖ were abruptly ended by the ÖVP after "unbridgeable differences", as well as "demands from the SPÖ that couldn't be agreed on". The new SPÖ-leader Sven Hergovich said "he would rather chop off his hand, than give in to the ÖVP". The SPÖ's demands included the introduction of all-day kindergarten care in Lower Austria, a statewide "job guarantee" for long-term unemployed, more heating benefits for poor people, better financial assistance for family members who perform long-term care for their ill/old family members and more investments into rural areas. The ÖVP said these demands would hurt the competitiveness of Lower Austria. The ÖVP will start in-depth talks with the FPÖ now about a possible coalition.[10]

On 17 March, the new ÖVP-FPÖ coalition in the Lower Austrian state parliament (Landtag) was officially presented.[11]

On 23 March, the new ÖVP-FPÖ coalition, the new ÖVP-FPÖ-SPÖ government and Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner were officially elected by the new Landtag. The FPÖ cast invalid votes in the election of Mikl-Leitner as Governor, despite entering a coalition with her ÖVP, honoring their campaign pledge not to re-elect her. SPÖ, Greens and NEOS voted against her. She received 24 of the 41 valid votes, out of 56 total members in the Landtag, the lowest number of votes for any Governor of Lower Austria. It was also the first time a Lower Austrian Governor was elected by a minority of the total members in the Landtag.