Austria : How do people vote in the 9 regions ?

Austria has 9 regions or federal states (Bundesländer) with an own regional parliament (Landtag). The results of the regional elections define the number of seats each political party gets in the Landtag. Those parties that have a plus 50% majority in the parliament form the regional government (Landesregierung). The head of the regional government is called Landeshauptmann (or Landeshauptfrau if it’s a woman).

The parties discussed are in general known by the average austrian citizen. Regional parties that operate only in certain states are specially introduced. There is as well the party of the austro-canadian billionaire Frank Stronach (founder of Magna International) that entered temporarily some regional parliaments in 2013 (in Carinthia, Lower Austria and Salzburg).

A precision concerning the FPÖ : after its entry in the national government in 2000, there had been internal disputes that led to the creation of split up parties. Some of these split-up parties participated only in regional elections (FPK in Carinthia, FPS in Salzburg), others took part in interregional and national elections (BZÖ). The period of these split up parties is over since several years (apart from a very small BZÖ Carinthia group that participates in municipality elections). When analyzing the election history of the FPÖ, the details of these historic split-up-parties are to be taken into account, in particular for Carinthia. 

The 9 states of Austria are presented according to their population size, starting with the most populous one. The results will be regularly updated after the most recent election. 

The regional elections in Vienna (Gemeinderatswahlen Wien): next date on 27 april 2025

According to the first counts from 27 april 2025 the results are as follows :
SPÖ = 39,3%  / FPÖ = 20,5% / ÖVP = 9,6% /  Grüne =14,7%  / Neos = 9,6%  / KPÖ (Communists) = 4,2% / HC Strache = 1,1%
The chart will be updated when the final results will be avalaible.

Austria’s capital with two million inhabitants is a city and a federal state at the same time. The regional parliament of Vienna has 100 seats.

Parties need to get at least 5% to enter it (according to art. 87 of the Wiener Gemeindewahlordnung 1996).

The social democratic party SPÖ is traditionally getting the highest score and therefore as well the mayor office (which is at the same time the governor’s bureau). Currently the SPÖ mayor Michael Ludwig is in a coalition with the Neos party, with Bettina Emmerling as the deputy mayor. This alliance uses the marketing slogan « progress coalition ».

The next election (in German called Landtagswahl Wien or Gemeinderatswahl Wien) will be in april 2025.

Here is an opinion poll from january 2025 concerning the 2025 Vienna Election.

The SPÖ should stay on the number 1 position with 40 %. The FPÖ Vienna (led by Dominik Nepp) is expected to triple its last score and to get 23%, which would make it the new number 2 in the city. Heavy losses are seen for the ÖVP (with its top candidate Karl Mahrer), which should get 10%. The Greens (under Judith Pühringer) are predicted 11%, the Neos 9%.

For two other parties it is not sure, if they will get the necessary 5% to enter the parliament : The communist party KPÖ (led by Rainer Hackauf) and the « Liste HC Strache » of the former FPÖ-leader and former vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache.

The regional elections in Lower Austria

Lower Austria (1,7 mio inhabitants) is considered to be the power centre of the ÖVP party. The last elections in 2023 saw the ÖVP still being the party with the highest score of 39,9%. But, this is as well its lowest result since 1993.

Until 2008, the SPÖ had been the number 2 party in this region, with scores above 30%. But in 2023 the social democrats came close to falling under the 20% line, with a result of 20,7%.

In 2023, the FPÖ got 24,2% and took the number 2 position from the SPÖ. It entered a coalition with the ÖVP under governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, a former minister of the interior. Her deputy is Udo Landbauer from the FPÖ.

The regional parliament in St. Pölten has 56 seats.

Interesting detail : In 2013, the party « Frank » of Frank Stronach entered it for one legislative period.

The opinion polls concerning theoretical new elections in Lower Austria can be checked here.

The regional elections in Upper Austria

The parliament of the 1,5 million inhabitants state is situated in the regional capital Linz. It has 56 seats.

In Upper Austria, the ÖVP is traditionally the first party. Since 2015, the FPÖ has replaced the SPÖ on the second position.

Currently there is a coalition of governor Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) and Manfred Haimbuchner (FPÖ).

In 2021, the Neos party entered the Landtag for the first time with 4,2 %. The MFG party, which was founded to act against the very restrictive Covid measures of the austrian federal and regional governments, got 6,2 % and 3 parliament seats. However, the MFG did not succeed in entering any other parliament in Austria so far.

Regional elections in Styria

This region in the south of Austria has a population of 1,3 million people.

From 2005 until 2015, the styrian SPÖ had been – with a downward trend – the strongest party. In 2015 the SPÖ still became number one with 29,3 %, but it came already very close to the ÖVP and FPÖ. Subsequently the SPÖ continued its decrease and landed at 21,36 % in 2024.

The 2019 regional election saw the ÖVP Styria as the clear winner (with 36,05 %). Its local leader of the time Christopher Drexler became  Landeshauptmann.

In 2015 the FPÖ had already gotten 27%, but then it dropped at the election 2019 – after the so-called Ibiza-Affair of the party – at 17,5%. The election of 2024 brought an impressive change: the FPÖ Styria doubled almost its score to 34,76 %, with a clear distance of 9 % to the ÖVP.

With 6% the styrian Neos are the fourth-strongest party in the regional parliament, which counts in total 6 parties. 

The green party in Styria reached its best result of the last two decades in 2019, with 12%. But in 2024 it dropped again to 6,17 %.

Since 20 years the communist party KPÖ succeeds in geeting good scores in Styria. They constantly lay between 4,2% and 6,3%. Currently the KPÖ holds 2 of the 48 parliament seats in Graz.

Since december 2024 there is a new regional government under the FPÖ-governor Mario Kunasek (a former minister of defense) and his deputy Manuela Khom (ÖVP). 

The regional elections in Tyrol

The mountain state of Tyrol has 773 000 inhabitants. The 36 seats in the regional parliament in Innsbruck are currently held by the representatives of six parties.

The ÖVP is the traditional number 1 party, but it lost 10 % in the last election in 2022, to reach 34,7%.

Tirol has the particularity of regional parties that achieve remarkable scores. In 2013, the party « Vorwärts Tirol » got 9,5%, and joined the parliament for one single legislative period.

The « Liste Fritz » of Fritz Dinkhauser enjoys a persistent success, since it has entered the Landtag in 2008. Its initial score of 18,4% has not been repeated so far, but the party got nervetheless 9,9 % in the 2022 election – which is above the results of the other small parties Greens and Neos. The « Liste Fritz » promotes in particular transparency and social justice. 

The FPÖ became the second party in Tyrol in 2022, with an outcome of 18,8%.

The SPÖ dropped durably below the 20% line in 2008. In the same year, it only became third party after the « Liste Fritz ». Since the 2022 result of 17,5%, it is again the third party (after the FPÖ). The head of the SPÖ Tyrol (Georg Dornauer) is currently the deputy governor of the state under Landeshauptmann Anton Mattle (ÖVP).

The regional elections in Salzburg

There are two geographical entities with the name Salzburg : the city of Salzburg, and the region of Salzburg (570 000 inhabitants).

The Salzburg regional assembly’s 36 seats are held by 5 parties : ÖVP, FPÖ, SPÖ, Greens and KPÖ. The Neos did not reach the necessary 5% to enter the parliament in the 2023 election.

Some interesting historical details concerning the 2013 election : The Green Party had an exceptional score of 20,2 % – the best result of the last 20 years with regional elections. And the party of the businessman Frank Stronach (Team) joined the parliament for one legislative period too.

Salzburg had no traditional first party during the past 20 years – sometimes it was the SPÖ, sometimes the ÖVP. For both parties, a decline in popularity can be observed during this period :

In the 2004 election, both parties together got 83,3% of the votes. In the 2023 elections, the common outcome is only 48,3%.

The SPÖ hast dropped from 45,4 % (in 2004) to 17,9 % (in 2023). The ÖVP still achieved 30,4 % in 2023.

Over the same period, the FPÖ has tripled its 2004 score to reach 25,7 % in 2023, which makes it now the number 2 party in Salzburg.

The region is currently governed by an ÖVP-FPÖ coalition. The governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP) works together with Marlene Svazek (FPÖ).

Another remarkable fact of the 2023 election is the entry of the Communist Party (KPÖ) in the parliament, with 11,7%.

The regional elections in Carinthia

Carinthia’s population of 569 000 people is slightly below that of Salzburg. The election history of the last decades is quite complex and requires some special explanations.

Carinthia is the region where the former FPÖ party leader Jörg Haider (1950 – 2008) was governor, from 1989 to 1991, and from 1999 to 2008. During a certain period, the FPÖ was present in Carinthia in form of several split up parties (as described in the introduction of this article) : FPÖ, BZÖ, FPK.

From 1999 until 2013, FPÖ-associated parties got scores between 42 % and 48,7 %. The FPÖ governors during these years were Jörg Haider and Gerhard Dörfler.

The SPÖ was the second party from 1999 until 2013. The 2013 election saw the social democrats switch to the number 1 position, and the FPÖ-associated parties becoming the number 2.

In 2013, the SPÖ got 37%, while all FPÖ-associated parties together got only 23%.

In 2018, the SPÖ reached remarkable 48% under its leader Peter Kaiser, while the FPÖ-associated parties reached ca 23,5%.

In 2023, the SPÖ dropped to 39%. The FPÖ (now as a unique party in Carinthia) got 24,5% and remains the second party in the state.

The ÖVP had its highest score of the last two decades in 1999, when it got 20,7%. Its current result is 17%.

A local particularity in Carinthia is the list of Gerhard Köfer, a former SPÖ deputee of the national parliament in Vienna. In 2013 he joined the new party of Frank Stronach, which successfully entered the Landtag of Carinthia. After changes of the name and of the internal organisation of this party, Köfer is still enjoying political success in Carinthia, by getting 10% with the 2023 election.

The Greens did not qualify for the regional assembly since 2018. The Neos did not qualify for it at all since its party foundation in 2013.

The 36 seats in the regional parliament are held by the four strongest parties (SPÖ, FPÖ, ÖVP, Köfer). The state is governed by Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) and deputy governor Martin Gruber (ÖVP).

The regional elections in Vorarlberg

The austrian region that borders Switzerland has 408 000 inhabitants. Its 36-seats-parliament is situated in Bregenz.  

In Vorarlberg the SPÖ (led by Mario Leiter in 2024) has its worst score of all nine regions. Its best result of the last decades was 13% in 1999. Since 2014 the party is constantly below 10 %.

The Green Party got quite good outcomes in the 2014 election (17,1%) and the 2019 election (18,9%). From 2019 until 2024, the Greens had been in the regional government under Landeshauptmann Markus Wallner (ÖVP) too.

The ÖVP has been the strongest party since many years, with an impressive result of 63,2% in 2004. In the last election in 2024 it lost more than 5%, but keeps its number 1 position with 38,3%.

The FPÖ had scores around 24% between 2009 and 2019. Following the « Ibiza Affair » of the FPÖ in 2019, the party fell to 14% in the Vorarlberg election in the same year. The 2024 election saw the FPÖ doubling its score to 28%, which makes it again the number 2.

The current regional government of Vorarlberg is composed of the ÖVP (with governor Markus Wallner) and the FPÖ (under Christof Bitschi).

The regional elections in Burgenland 

In terms of population, Burgenland is the smallest state of Austria, with 302 000 inhabitants. The 36 seats in the regional parliament in Eisenstadt are occupied by 4 parties (SPÖ, ÖVP, FPÖ, Green Party). 

The leading party in this state in the east of Austria is traditionally the SPÖ. Following a 49,9% result in the 2020 election, the SPÖ Burgenland could even install a one-party-government, headed by Hans Peter Doskozil, a former minister of defense.

With the last election in january 2025 the SPÖ lost its absolute parliament majority, but it still got a very high result of 46,4 %. The FPÖ, led by the former minister for technology Norbert Hofer, became the number 2 party with 23,1%. The ÖVP (under Christian Sagartz) got only 22 % – its worst result since decades. The Greens dropped from 6,7% to 5,7%. The Neos continued to fail to enter the parliament with the necessary 4%.

The small regional LBL party, which had been in the Landtag between 2010 and 2020, did not participate in the 2025 election.

Since 2025 the Burgenland is governed by a coalition of the SPÖ (under Landeshauptmann Hans Peter Doskozil) and the Greens (with Anja Haider-Wallner as deputy governor).

Public health care is a critical subject in this region. The Burgenland has the lowest number of hospital physicians of all 9 austrian states. The hospital physician density declined even from 2020 to 2022. 

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