The 2014 Vorarlberg state election was held on 21 September 2014 to elect the members of the Landtag of Vorarlberg.

The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) suffered substantial losses, and was deprived of its majority in the Landtag. The second-placed Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) retained their position with minor losses. The beneficiaries of the ÖVP's defeat were The Greens, who achieved a breakthrough result of 17.1%, and NEOS – The New Austria, which debuted at 6.9%.

Now lacking a majority, the ÖVP led by Governor Markus Wallner sought a coalition partner. They ultimately formed government with the Greens.

Background In the 2009 election, the ÖVP saw a small downswing but retained its majority. The FPÖ double its share of the vote and became the second largest party, ahead of the SPÖ.

Electoral system The 36 seats of the Landtag of Vorarlberg are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between four multi-member constituencies, corresponding to the districts of Vorarlberg. For parties to receive any representation in the Landtag, they must either win at least one seat in a constituency directly, or clear a 5 percent state-wide electoral threshold. Seats are distributed in constituencies according to the Hagenbach-Bischoff quota, with any remaining seats allocated at the state level, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's vote share and its share of seats.

Contesting parties The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag. Name Ideology Leader 2009 result Votes (%) Seats ÖVP Austrian People's Party Christian democracy Markus Wallner 50.8% FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria Right-wing populismEuroscepticism Dieter Egger 25.1% GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative Green politics Johannes Rauch 10.6% SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria Social democracy Michael Ritsch 10.0%

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

NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS) WIR – Platform for Families and Child Protection (WIR) Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ) Pirate Party of Austria (PIRAT) Men's Party (M)

Result Party Votes % +/− Seats +/− Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 71,205 41.79 –9.00 16 –4 Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 39,892 23.42 –1.70 9 ±0 The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 29,193 17.14 +6.56 6 +2 Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 14,948 8.77 –1.25 3 ±0 NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS) 11,743 6.89 New 2 New WIR – Platform for Families and Child Protection (WIR) 1,088 0.64 New 0 New Christian Party of Austria (CPÖ) 833 0.49 New 0 New Pirate Party of Austria (PIRAT) 795 0.47 +0.47 0 ±0 Men's Party (M) 672 0.39 New 0 New Invalid/blank votes 1,396 – – – – Total 171,765 100 – 36 0 Registered voters/turnout 267,104 64.31 –4.13 – –Source: Vorarlberg Government

Results by constituency Constituency ÖVP FPÖ Grüne SPÖ NEOS Others Totalseats % % % % % % Bludenz 45.6 3 22.6 1 12.0 11.0 6.6 2.3 4 Bregenz 43.9 5 22.6 2 16.2 2 9.0 1 6.6 1.7 10 Dornbirn 35.8 3 27.3 2 20.2 1 7.8 7.1 1.8 6 Feldkirch 41.3 4 22.0 2 19.4 2 7.8 8.3 2.3 8 Remaining seats 1 2 1 2 2 8 Total 41.8 16 23.4 9 17.1 6 8.8 3 6.9 2 2.0 36 Source: Vorarlberg Government

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