In the Lower Austrian state elections, you elect 56 members of the state parliament and thus determine the composition of the next state government. They elect those people who will shape the federal state that is closest to us in the next five years. The country with which we are connected and in which we live: Lower Austria.

Go to the polls and have your say.

On November 8, 2022, the Lower Austrian provincial government issued the ordinance for the election of the Lower Austrian state parliament. The election day was set for January 29, 2023. The deadline is November 18, 2022. There is no obligation to vote.

Who is eligible to vote?

Austrian citizens are entitled to vote provided they are at least 16 years of age on the day of the election and are not disqualified from voting. In addition, they must have their main place of residence in a Lower Austrian municipality on the reference date.

Who is up for election?

On the other hand, persons entitled to vote are eligible for election to the Landtag of Lower Austria, provided they have reached the age of 18 at the latest on the day of the election and have not been excluded from eligibility by a domestic court for having committed certain criminal offences. Applicants must also have their main place of residence in a Lower Austrian municipality on the reference date.

Who is elected in the state elections?

56 MPs are elected in the Lower Austrian state elections. In order to stand as a candidate, it is necessary to submit (at least) one election proposal in one of the 20 constituencies (district election proposal). The campaigning party then runs as a candidate in the respective constituency.

Based on the results of the census of October 31, 2011, the constituencies listed in Section 2 (1) of the Lower Austrian state election regulations of 1992 have the following number of mandates:

Constituency number	Designation	Number of mandates
1	Amstetten	4
2	Baden	5
3	Bruck an der Leitha	3
4	Gänserndorf	3
5	Gmünd	1
6	Hollabrunn	2
7	Horn	1
8	Korneuburg	3
9	Krems an der Donau	3
10	Lilienfeld	1
11	Melk	3
12	Mistelbach	3
13	Mödling	4
14	Neunkirchen	3
15	St. Pölten	6
16	Scheibbs	1
17	Tulln	3
18	Waidhofen an der Thaya	1
19	Wiener Neustadt	4
20	Zwettl	2

A district election proposal must either be signed by at least three members of the state parliament, or supported by at least 50 people who are registered as entitled to vote in the municipalities of the respective constituency in the state voter register on the key date. Corresponding declarations of support are available for download and are personally signed with the district election proposal

to connect.

For a nationwide candidature, the submission of 20 district election proposals and one state election proposal is required.

At the level of the constituencies, the mandates are distributed to the party lists based on the number of votes. The number of elections is determined by dividing the total number of valid votes cast in the constituency by the number of mandates to be awarded there increased by 0.5. The result is then rounded to the next whole number. The number of mandates a party has in the constituency is now calculated by dividing the sum of the valid votes cast for it by the number of elections.

In the course of the second investigation (state level), D'Hondt'sche maximum number method is applied. Only parties that have more than

4% of the valid votes cast have been lost and who have submitted a state election proposal. The number of mandates to be awarded is initially reduced by those mandates that were won by campaigning parties that do not take part in the second preliminary investigation at constituency level. The mandates to be awarded are also calculated here using an election number. This is determined by first dividing the sum of the valid party votes cast by the number of mandates to be awarded and writing them next to each other. The highest result counts as the voting number. The number of mandates a party has is now calculated by dividing the sum of the valid votes cast by the number of elections. Mandates already achieved at constituency level are counted.

The legal source for holding a state election is the Lower Austrian state election regulations 1992 (LWO).

What are preferential votes and how do they work?

A party list is generally elected in Lower Austria, with each constituency having its own ballot paper. The voter has the opportunity to influence the list order by assigning a preferential vote (checking the name at the level of the constituency and the provincial election proposal). The mandates allotted to the individual campaigning parties (those parties that have submitted election proposals) are first determined in the respective constituency and then at state level (two determination procedures).

In Lower Austria there is a strong personal right to vote, so that the valid preferential vote beats the possibly different party designation (principle NAME BEFORE PARTY).

What is postal voting and how does it work?

If you are not at your main place of residence in Lower Austria on election day, you can also exercise your right to vote by postal vote.

You need an election card for this. You can do this verbally or in writing (by post, fax, e-mail or via the website of the municipality or via its own platforms, e.g. www.wahlkartenanmeldung.at) from the municipality in whose voter register you are entered, starting on the day of the election announcement, stating a reason and proof of your identity (passport number or qualified electronic signature for e-mail). Reasons for an application for the issue of an absentee ballot can be, for example, absence on election day or health restrictions that prevent visiting a polling station. A telephone application is not permitted! You can apply for the absentee ballot in writing up to the fourth day before election day - if it is possible to personally hand over the absentee ballot to a person authorized by you, up to the second day before election day - or verbally up to 12 noon on the second day before election day.

In most municipalities, those eligible to vote are sent a “voter agreement” with which they can also apply in writing for the absentee ballot.

The mailing of the absentee ballots begins almost three weeks before election day.

You can cast your vote as soon as you receive your absentee ballot and do not have to wait until election day to do so.

The absentee ballot is a sealable white envelope. The ballot paper contains the official ballot paper and a blue ballot envelope. You will find information on how to vote by post on the absentee ballot. Furthermore, an information sheet is attached to the absentee ballot and an envelope is offered.

If you wish to exercise your right to vote by post, please proceed as follows:

First remove the official ballot paper and the blue ballot envelope from the absentee ballot.

Fill out the official ballot in person, unobserved and uninfluenced.

Put the completed official ballot paper into the blue ballot envelope and put it back on the ballot card.

By signing the ballot paper yourself, declare in an affidavit that you will use the official ballot paper personally, unobserved and uninfluenced

the end.

Put the completed official ballot paper into the blue ballot envelope and put it back on the ballot card.

By signing the ballot paper yourself, declare in lieu of an oath that you filled out the official ballot paper personally, unobserved and uninfluenced.

Now stick the voting card shut.

Place the absentee ballot in the outer envelope and seal it as well.

Now make sure that the absentee ballot reaches the responsible municipal elections authority in good time. You can, for example, drop the absentee ballot in a post box, hand it in at a post office or hand it in directly to the responsible municipal elections authority.

The country bears the cost of the postage, regardless of whether you post the voting card in Germany or abroad.

The absentee ballot must be received by the competent municipal elections authority by 6:30 a.m. on the day of the election at the latest, or it must have been handed in to the electoral district responsible for the voter by the close of the election.

Information for expatriates from Lower Austria

If you do not currently have a main residence in Austria, but had a main residence in a Lower Austrian municipality within 10 years of moving abroad, turned 14 years of age before January 1st of the year of registration and want to take part in state elections, you must be registered as a Lower Austrian abroad in the state electoral register of a Lower Austrian municipality.

More information: Entry in the state voter register for Lower Austrians living abroad

More information will follow as soon as it is available!

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