2018 Lower Austrian state election

The Lower Austrian constitution mandates that cabinet positions in the state government (state councillors, German: Landesräten) be allocated between parties proportionally in accordance with 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 2013 election, the ÖVP had six councillors, the SPÖ two, and Team Stronach one.

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 4 percent state-wide 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.^[2]

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag.

Team Stronach, which contested the previous election and won 9.8% of votes, five seats, and one state councillor, did not contest the 2018 election.

In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, four parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.^[3]

• NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS)
• Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ) – on the ballot only in Amstetten, Melk, and Mödling
• We for Lower Austria (WFNOE) – on the ballot only in Baden

Party		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Coun.	+/−
	Austrian People's Party (ÖVP)	450,812	49.63	–1.16	29	–1	6	±0
	Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ)	217,289	23.92	+2.35	13	±0	2	±0
	Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ)	134,085	14.76	+6.55	8	+4	1	+1
	The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE)	58,401	6.43	–1.63	3	–1	0	±0
	NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS)	46,801	5.15	+5.15	3	+3	0	New
	Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ)	584	0.06	–0.03	0	±0	0	±0
	We for Lower Austria (WFNOE)	367	0.04	New	0	New	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		14,468	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total		922,807	100	–	56	0	9	0
Registered voters/turnout		1,386,356	66.56	–4.31	–	–	–	–
Source: Lower Austrian Government

Alongside votes for a party, voters were able to cast a preferential votes for a candidate on the party list. The ten candidates with the most preferential votes were as follows:^[4]

The ÖVP retained its Landtag majority and six out of nine state councillors; the SPÖ also retained its two councillors. With the disappearance of Team Stronach, the FPÖ moved into third place on a strong swing, and won one state councillor.^[5]