The 2010 Styrian state election was held on 26 September 2010 to elect the members of the Landtag of Styria.

The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) narrowly retained first place against the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), with both parties taking losses. The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) was the main winner of the election, returning to the Landtag after falling out five years earlier; it won 10.7% of the vote and six seats, taking two each from the SPÖ, ÖVP, and Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ). Governor Franz Voves of the SPÖ was subsequently elected to a second term by the Landtag.

Background Prior to amendments made in 2011, the Styrian constitution mandated that cabinet positions in the state government (state councillors, ) be allocated between parties proportionally in accordance with the share of votes won by each; this is known as Proporz. As such, the government was a perpetual coalition of all parties that qualified for at least one state councillor.

The 2005 election brought significant changes in Styrian politics. The SPÖ won a narrow victory over the ÖVP, becoming the largest party in the Landtag for the first time since 1953; Franz Voves became the first SPÖ governor of Styria. The FPÖ also lost all its seats for the first time ever. The KPÖ returned to the Landtag after a 35-year absence, placing third with 6.3% of votes and four seats, on the back of a popular campaign and recent success in Graz. After the election, the SPÖ had five state councillors and the ÖVP four.

Electoral system The 56 seats of the Landtag of Styria were elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. 48 of the seats were distributed between four multi-member constituencies. For parties to receive any representation in the Landtag, they must win at least one seat in a constituency directly. Seats were distributed in constituencies according to the Hare quota, with eight leveling 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.

Contesting parties Name Ideology Leader 2005 result Votes (%) Seats Councillors SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria Social democracy Franz Voves 41.7% ÖVP Austrian People's Party Christian democracy Hermann Schützenhöfer 38.7% KPÖ Communist Party of Austria Communism Claudia Klimt-Weithaler 6.3% GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative Green politics Werner Kogler 4.7%

In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, four parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot:

Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ) Party for the Environment, People and Labour (PUMA)

Opinion polling Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize SPÖ ÖVP KPÖ Grüne FPÖ BZÖ Others Lead 2010 state election 26 September 2010 – 38.3 37.2 4.4 5.6 10.7 3.0 1.0 1.1 OGM/Kurier 18 Sep 2010 ? 36.5 36.5 4.5 6.5 11.5 2.5 2.0 Tie Humaninstitut 11–18 Sep 2010 850 39 36 3 8 7 5 2 3 Gallup 18 Sep 2010 ? 38 37 4 7 9 3 2 1 IMAS 15 Sep 2010 906 39 38 6 6 7 3 1 1 Gallup 10 Sep 2010 ? 37 37 4 6 10 – 6 Tie GMK 10 Sep 2010 ? 39 38 5 5 10 2 1 1 Market 2 Sep 2010 ? 38 36 5 7 8 3 3 2 Market 29 Aug 2010 400 39 37 6 6 7 3 2 2 Gallup 15 Aug 2010 400 38 37 3 6 11 2 3 1 2005 state election 2 October 2005 – 41.7 38.7 6.3 4.7 4.6 1.7 2.3 3.0

Results Party Votes % +/− Seats +/− +/− Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 253,878 38.26 –3.41 23 –2 4 –1 Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 246,755 37.19 –1.47 22 –2 4 ±0 Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 70,708 10.66 +6.10 6 +6 1 +1 The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 36,834 5.55 +0.81 3 ±0 0 ±0 Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 29,231 4.41 –1.93 2 –2 0 ±0 Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) 19,775 2.98 +1.26 0 ±0 0 ±0 Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ) 4,762 0.72 New 0 New 0 New Party for the Environment, People and Labour (PUMA) 1,581 0.24 New 0 New 0 New Invalid/blank votes 8,855 – – – – – – Total 672,279 100 – 56 0 9 0 Registered voters/turnout 966,900 69.54 –6.64 – – – –Source: Styrian Government

Results by constituency Constituency SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ Grüne KPÖ Others Totalseats Turnout % % % % % % District 1 34.2 6 31.2 5 12.3 2 10.3 1 7.6 1 4.4 15 64.4 District 2 39.0 4 40.4 4 9.9 1 3.6 2.4 4.7 9 70.4 District 3 30.2 3 50.3 6 10.0 1 4.0 2.3 3.2 10 74.5 District 4 47.6 8 31.5 5 10.0 1 3.3 4.2 3.5 14 71.0 State seats 2 2 1 2 1 8 Total 38.3 23 37.2 22 10.7 6 5.6 3 4.4 2 4.0 56 69.5 Source: Styrian Government

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