Upper Styria (National Council electoral district)

Upper Styria (), also known as Electoral District 6D (), is one of the 39 multi-member regional electoral districts of the National Council, the lower house of the Austrian Parliament, the national legislature of Austria. The electoral district was established in 2012 by the merger of Styria North, Styria North West and Styria West following the re-organisation of the regional electoral districts in Styria to reflect the new administrative district structure and came into being at the following legislative election in 2013. It consists of the districts of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag, Leoben, Liezen, Murau and Murtal in the state of Styria. The electoral district currently elects seven of the 183 members of the National Council using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2019 legislative election the constituency had 271,302 registered electors.

History Upper Styria was established in 2012 by the merger of Styria North, Styria North West and Styria West following the re-organisation of the regional electoral districts in Styria to reflect the new administrative district structure. It consisted of the districts of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag, Leoben, Liezen, Murau and Murtal in the state of Styria. The district was initially allocated nine seats in April 2013. Electoral regulations require the allocation of seats amongst the electoral districts to be recalculated following each national census and in June 2013 the number of seats allocated to Upper Styria was reduced to eight based on the population as at the 2011 national census. The number of seats allocated to Upper Styria was reduced to seven in June 2023 based on the population as at the 2021 national census.

Electoral system Upper Styria currently elects seven of the 183 members of the National Council using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. The allocation of seats is carried out in three stages. In the first stage, seats are allocated to parties (lists) at the regional level using a state-wide Hare quota () (valid votes in the state divided by the number of seats in the state). In the second stage, seats are allocated to parties at the state/provincial level using the state-wide Hare quota (any seats won by the party at the regional stage are subtracted from the party's state seats). In the third and final stage, seats are allocated to parties at the federal/national level using the D'Hondt method (any seats won by the party at the regional and state stages are subtracted from the party's federal seats). Only parties that reach the 4% national threshold, or have won a seat at the regional stage, compete for seats at the state and federal stages.

Electors may cast one preferential vote for individual candidates at the regional, state and federal levels. Split-ticket voting (panachage), or voting for more than one candidate at each level, is not permitted and will result in the ballot paper being invalidated. At the regional level, candidates must receive preferential votes amounting to at least 14% of the valid votes cast for their party to over-ride the order of the party list (10% and 7% respectively for the state and federal levels).

Election results Summary Election CommunistsKPÖ+ / KPÖ Social DemocratsSPÖ GreensGRÜNE NEOSNEOS People'sÖVP FreedomFPÖ colspan=3 colspan=3 colspan=3 colspan=3 colspan=3 colspan=3 Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats2019 2,682 1.35% 0 52,829 26.61% 1 16,347 8.23% 0 12,117 6.10% 0 74,417 37.48% 2 36,172 18.22% 12017 1,921 0.88% 0 67,661 31.16% 2 3,547 1.63% 0 7,869 3.62% 0 61,479 28.31% 2 64,861 29.87% 22013 4,271 2.01% 0 67,380 31.71% 2 15,892 7.48% 0 6,530 3.07% 0 37,783 17.78% 1 52,789 24.84% 1

Detailed 2019 Results of the 2019 legislative election held on 29 September 2019:

Party Votes per district Totalvotes % SeatsBruck-Mürzzu-schlag Leoben Liezen Murau Murtal Votingcard Austrian People's Party ÖVP 19,627 11,456 18,786 8,582 15,735 231 74,417 37.48% 2 Social Democratic Party of Austria SPÖ 17,458 10,143 9,921 3,434 11,767 106 52,829 26.61% 1 Freedom Party of Austria FPÖ 10,525 6,487 8,073 3,231 7,762 94 36,172 18.22% 1 The Greens – The Green Alternative GRÜNE 4,937 2,927 4,084 1,122 3,084 193 16,347 8.23% 0 NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum NEOS 3,318 2,250 3,131 974 2,322 122 12,117 6.10% 0 JETZT JETZT 1,083 638 661 185 667 23 3,257 1.64% 0 KPÖ Plus KPÖ+ 841 672 468 82 613 6 2,682 1.35% 0 Der Wandel WANDL 240 139 172 42 121 4 718 0.36% 0Valid Votes 58,029 34,712 45,296 17,652 42,071 779 198,539 100.00% 4Rejected Votes 676 337 523 216 408 7 2,167 1.08% Total Polled 58,705 35,049 45,819 17,868 42,479 786 200,706 73.98% Registered Electors 79,291 48,192 62,618 23,117 58,084 271,302 Turnout 74.04% 72.73% 73.17% 77.29% 73.13% 73.98%

The following candidates were elected: Party mandates - Hannes Amesbauer (FPÖ), 4,099 votes; Andreas Kühberger (ÖVP), 5,767 votes; Max Lercher (SPÖ), 7,354 votes; and Corinna Scharzenberger (ÖVP), 2,521 votes.

Substitutions: Hannes Amesbauer (FPÖ) was reassigned to the federal list seat vacated by Petra Steger and was replaced by Wolfgang Zanger (FPÖ) in Upper Styria on 16 July 2024.

2017 Results of the 2017 legislative election held on 15 October 2017:

Party Votes per district Totalvotes % SeatsBruck-Mürzzu-schlag Leoben Liezen Murau Murtal Votingcard Social Democratic Party of Austria SPÖ 21,694 12,964 13,409 4,120 15,247 227 67,661 31.16% 2 Freedom Party of Austria FPÖ 19,008 12,016 14,100 5,754 13,798 185 64,861 29.87% 2 Austrian People's Party ÖVP 15,387 9,066 16,520 7,341 12,879 286 61,479 28.31% 2 NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum NEOS 2,123 1,522 1,989 675 1,450 110 7,869 3.62% 0 Peter Pilz List PILZ 2,587 1,386 1,443 388 1,301 73 7,178 3.31% 0 The Greens – The Green Alternative GRÜNE 1,028 626 943 263 642 45 3,547 1.63% 0 Communist Party of Austria KPÖ 623 522 236 62 460 18 1,921 0.88% 0 My Vote Counts! GILT 554 341 409 84 319 16 1,723 0.79% 0 Free List Austria FLÖ 149 79 128 73 122 3 554 0.26% 0 The Whites WEIßE 93 53 90 22 74 3 335 0.15% 0Valid Votes 63,246 38,575 49,267 18,782 46,292 966 217,128 100.00% 6Rejected Votes 517 272 457 146 351 5 1,748 0.80% Total Polled 63,763 38,847 49,724 18,928 46,643 971 218,876 79.56% Registered Electors 80,422 49,246 63,299 23,425 58,729 275,121 Turnout 79.29% 78.88% 78.55% 80.80% 79.42% 79.56%

The following candidates were elected: Party mandates - Hannes Amesbauer (FPÖ), 3,850 votes; Barbara Krenn (ÖVP), 6,709 votes; Andreas Kühberger (ÖVP), 6,456 votes; Jörg Leichtfried (SPÖ), 7,078 votes; Birgit Sandler (SPÖ), 548 votes; and Wolfgang Zanger (FPÖ), 3,411 votes.

Substitutions: Barbara Krenn (ÖVP) died on 3 April 2019 and was replaced by Karl Schmidhofer (ÖVP) on 10 April 2019.

2013 Results of the 2013 legislative election held on 29 September 2013:

Party Votes per district Totalvotes % SeatsBruck-Mürzzu-schlag Leoben Liezen Murau Murtal Votingcard Social Democratic Party of Austria SPÖ 22,042 13,703 12,874 4,195 14,412 154 67,380 31.71% 2 Freedom Party of Austria FPÖ 15,677 10,113 11,083 4,543 11,259 114 52,789 24.84% 1 Austrian People's Party ÖVP 9,184 4,889 10,165 5,177 8,195 173 37,783 17.78% 1 Team Stronach FRANK 4,914 2,958 3,964 1,607 3,957 58 17,458 8.22% 0 The Greens – The Green Alternative GRÜNE 4,626 2,688 4,110 1,235 3,084 149 15,892 7.48% 0 Alliance for the Future of Austria BZÖ 2,041 1,366 1,942 1,313 2,120 39 8,821 4.15% 0 NEOS – The New Austria NEOS 1,855 1,218 1,715 489 1,192 61 6,530 3.07% 0 Communist Party of Austria KPÖ 1,325 1,232 512 120 1,067 15 4,271 2.01% 0 Pirate Party of Austria PIRAT 303 208 305 81 224 5 1,126 0.53% 0 Christian Party of Austria CPÖ 137 58 149 35 75 1 455 0.21% 0Valid Votes 62,104 38,433 46,819 18,795 45,585 769 212,505 100.00% 4Rejected Votes 911 385 975 272 563 8 3,114 1.44% Total Polled 63,015 38,818 47,794 19,067 46,148 777 215,619 76.36% Registered Electors 83,167 51,528 63,400 24,103 60,190 282,388 Turnout 75.77% 75.33% 75.38% 79.11% 76.67% 76.36%

The following candidates were elected: Party mandates - Andrea Gessl-Ranftl (SPÖ), 2,057 votes; Fritz Grillitsch (ÖVP), 5,096 votes; Erwin Spindelberger (SPÖ), 3,859 votes; and Wolfgang Zanger (FPÖ), 2,906 votes.

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