2023 Lower Austrian state election
State election in Austria / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2023 Lower Austrian state election was held on 29 January 2023 to elect the members of the Landtag of Lower Austria.[1][2]
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All 56 seats in the Landtag of Lower Austria 29 seats needed for a majority All 9 seats in the state government | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 922,253 (71.6%) 5.0% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results by town/city | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The ruling conservative ÖVP lost almost 10 percentage points and received slightly less than 40 % of the vote, making it their worst election result in Lower Austria's history. As a result, the party also lost its absolute majority in the state parliament (23 of 56 seats, -9), as well as their absolute majority in the state government, losing two of their six seats.
The center-left SPÖ also had its worst election result in history, losing more than 3 percentage points and receiving 20.7 % of the vote. They lost one seat in the Landtag but kept their two state councilors. For the first time since World War II, the SPÖ ended up in third place in a Lower Austrian state election.
The far-right populist FPÖ achieved their best election result yet, winning more than 24 % of the vote, an increase of almost 10 percentage points. Their seat share in the Landtag increased by 6, to 14 seats. They added two seats to their current one in the state government. For the first time ever, they overtook SPÖ and landed in second place in a state election.
The environmentalist Greens improved their election results slightly, winning about 8 % of the vote, up by just over 1 percentage point. They gained an additional seat in the Landtag and regained their parliamentary fraction status by winning a fourth seat again.
The liberal NEOS also improved their previous election result by more than 1 percentage point and received 6.7 %, their best result yet and kept their three seats in the Landtag.
Both the Greens and NEOS failed to receive a seat in the nine-member state government.
Voter turnout was 71.6 %, an increase of 5 percentage points from the previous election, reversing a long-time trend of falling turnout.