Austria Archive

Europe 2009 – Results wrap part 2

By
Ben Raue
 – June 10, 2009

Here we go again:

  • Austria – It was a bad result for both parties in the governing grand coalition, with the centre-right People’s Party suffering a 2.7% swing, and the Social Democratic Party suffering a 9.5% swing. The SPO lost 3 of their 7 MEPs and the People’s Party remained steady on 6 seats. The Greens also lost a quarter of their vote, although they maintained their two seats. The independent Hans-Peter Martin came third with a 3.7% swing, and won a third seat for his ticket. The far-right Freedom Party doubled their vote to over 12%, and won a second seat. Thenew far-right party Alliance for the Future of Austria also polled 4.6% but failed to win a seat.
  • Cyprus – Both major parties, Democratic Rally and Progressive Party of Working People, gained votes with swings of about 7% for each party, although they only maintained the 2 seats that each party held. The Democratic Party lost a quarter of its seat, holding on to its one seat. The Movement for Social Democracy lost 1% of the vote, but managed to win a seat for the first time, after the centrist European Party lost a majority of its vote, and its sole MEP.
  • Denmark – The result was bad for the centre-left Social Democrats, suffering an 11% swing and losing one of their five seats, although they remained in first place. The governing centre-right Venstre party gained 1%, polling 20% and maintaining 3 seats. Greens-affiliated Socialist People’s Party almost doubled their vote to 15.85%, winning a second seat. The right-wing Danish People’s Party went from 6.8% to 15.3%, winning a second seat. The June Movement collapsed from 9% to 2.4%.
  • Finland – Finnish results were bad for all three major parties, with them all suffering negative swings, varying from a 0.5% swing against the National Coalition Party to 4.4% against the Centre Party. The parties that benefited included the Green League and the Libertas-aligned True Finns. The three major parties each lost one seat, with the National Coalition Party and Centre Party holding 3 seats each, and the Social Democrats holding 2. The Green League gained a second seat, and True Finns and Christian Democrats each won a seat for the first time. The minority Swedish People’s Party maintained their one seat while Left Alliance lost their one seat.
  • Germany – The German result saw a small swing to the left, even though the centre-right still won a decisive victory. After a massive defeat in 2004, the Social Democratic Party maintained its 23 seats, while the CDU/CSU coalition won 42, down 7 from 49 in 2004. Those seven seats went to minor parties with the centrist (although right-leaning) Free Democratic  Party winning 5 extra seats, for a total of 12. The Greens also gained one extra seat, winning 14. The Left Party also won more votes than the previous Party of Democratic Socialism, winning an 8th MEP.
  • Italy – The result was major victory for Silvio Berlusconi’s new party the People of Freedom. The party won 29 seats, up from 27 seats for the party’s predecessors in 2004. The result was also strong for the right-wing regionalist Lega Nord, winning 5 extra seats to add to their existing 4. The liberal party Italy of Values increased their seats from 2 to 7. In contrast, a number of small party coalitions were excluded after failing to pass the 4% threshold, including the coalition of socialists and Greens and the communist coalition.
  • Malta – The result in Malta was a decisive victory for the Labour Party, who easily won three of the five seats, with the Nationalists maintaining their two seats. While the Greens came close to winning a seat in 2004, with almost 10% of the vote, their vote dropped back to their normal level of 2.3%.
  • Sweden - Results for the major parties remained largely steady, with the Social Democrats holding 5 seats and the Moderate Party 4 seats. The centrist People’s Party gained a third seat, and the Greens gained a second seat. The Left Party lost more than half of its vote and one of their two seats. The eurosceptic June List lost three-quarters of its vote and all three of their seats. The Pirate Party polled 7.1% in their first election and won a seat.
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Europe 2009 – Austria

By
Ben Raue
 – May 28, 2009

Austria elected 18 MEPs in 2004, and will elect 17 in 2009. All Austria’s MEPs are elected to represent the entire country. MEPs are elected by party list, although there is some room for candidates to receive personal votes. Voters may vote for individual candidates on each list, and if a candidate receives 7% of their party’s vote they are elected first, before candidates are elected in the order they sit on the party list.

The 2004 election saw a slim victory for the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPÖ – Party of European Socialists) over the centre-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP – European People’s Party), 33.33% to 32.7%. Both parties gained extra votes compared to 1999, with the SPÖ winning 7 seats to the ÖVP’s 6. The 1999 election had seen the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ – No affiliation) win 23% of the vote, and this fell to 6.3% in 2004, with the FPÖ losing 4 of its 5 seats. The Freedom Party was at the peak of its popularity in 1999, when they followed up their Euro victory with a huge result in the October national election, resulting in the party going into government. In contrast, the 2004 election happened in the dying days of the conservative coalition government, with FPO leader Jörg Haider leading a split in the party in early 2005.

The remainder of the Freedom Party’s vote went to the Greens (European Greens), who gained 3% and a second MEP, and Hans-Peter Martin, who ran as an independent after previously being a Social Democratic MEP, winning almost 14% of the vote and two seats. His running mate, Karin Resetarits, has since fallen out with Martin and joined the ALDE.

The largest change since the 2004 election has been the split in the Freedom Party in early 2005, with FPÖ leader Haider forming the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ). Both parties gained ground at the 2008 parliamentary election.

Recent polls show the far right gain ground. The BZÖ has been polling around 5%, after never contesting European Parliament elections before, and the FPÖ is polling around 14-17%, up from 6.3% in 2004.

Both major parties have lost ground, polling in the high 20s, down from polling 32-33% in 2004. The ÖVP has been polling in first place in this week’s polls, although polls earlier in May had the SPÖ in first place. Both Hans-Peter Martin and the Greens have slightly lost ground, polling around 10% after getting 14% and 12% respectively in 2004.

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