The 2017 Graz local election was held on 5 February 2017 to elect the members of the Gemeindesrat of Graz.

The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) were the clear winners of the election, remaining the largest party with 38% of the vote. The Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) remained the second largest party with 20%, while the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) rose to third place. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and The Greens both suffered losses. NEOS – The New Austria contested their first election in Graz, winning 4% and won one seat.

Incumbent Mayor Siegfried Nagl of the ÖVP was re-elected, while Elke Kahr of the KPÖ remained deputy mayor.

Background The Styrian constitution mandates that positions in municipal government (city 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 of Graz is a perpetual coalition of all parties that qualify for at least one city councillor.

In the 2012 election, the KPÖ became the second largest party in Graz with 20%. The ÖVP, SPÖ, and Greens all suffered losses, while the FPÖ and Pirate Party made gains. The city government was dominated by the ÖVP with three councillors, while the KPÖ, SPÖ, FPÖ, and Greens won one councillor each.

Electoral system The 48 seats of the Gemeindesrat of Graz are elected via open list proportional representation with no electoral threshold.

Contesting parties Name Ideology Leader 2012 result Votes (%) Seats Councillors ÖVP Austrian People's Party Christian democracy Siegfried Nagl 33.7% KPÖ Communist Party of Austria Communism Elke Kahr 19.6% SPÖ Social Democratic Party of Austria Social democracy Michael Ehmann 15.3% FPÖ Freedom Party of Austria Right-wing populismEuroscepticism Mario Eustacchio 13.8% GRÜNE The Greens – The Green Alternative Green politics Tina Wirnsberger 12.1% PIRAT Pirate Party of Austria Pirate politics Philip Pacanda 2.7%

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

NEOS – The New Austria (NEOS) List WIR – Independent Citizens List Graz (WIR) Einsparkraftwerk (ESK) Tatjana Petrovic

Results

Party Votes % +/− Seats +/− +/− Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) 47,639 37.79 +4.05 19 +2 3 ±0 Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) 25,645 20.34 +0.48 10 ±0 2 +1 Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) 19,998 15.86 +2.11 8 +1 1 ±0 The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) 13,254 10.51 –1.63 5 –1 1 ±0 Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) 12,668 10.05 –5.26 5 –2 0 –1 NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS) 4,966 3.94 New 1 New 0 New Pirate Party of Austria (PIRAT) 1,368 1.09 –1.61 0 –1 0 ±0 List WIR – Independent Citizens List Graz (WIR) 250 0.20 New 0 New 0 New Einsparkraftwerk (ESK) 166 0.13 –0.06 0 ±0 0 ±0 Tatjana Petrovic 115 0.09 New 0 New 0 New Invalid/blank votes 1,835 – – – – – – Total 127,904 100 – 48 0 7 0 Registered voters/turnout 222,856 57.39 +1.92 – – – –Source: Stadt Graz

Results by district District ÖVP KPÖ FPÖ Grüne SPÖ NEOS Others Turnout I. Innere Stadt 33.7 28.6 11.4 13.8 4.7 5.2 2.6 59.8 II. St. Leonhard 34.2 26.7 9.7 15.1 6.2 5.8 2.4 61.9 III. Geidorf 36.5 23.8 10.5 14.2 7.4 5.9 1.8 61.7 IV. Lend 27.6 25.7 18.4 9.4 14.5 3.0 1.5 49.7 V. Gries 27.1 28.3 19.1 8.6 12.1 3.0 1.8 43.6 VI. Jakomini 30.4 27.3 14.5 11.6 9.9 4.5 1.9 53.9 VII. Liebenau 42.2 15.1 21.1 5.4 12.6 2.5 1.0 54.9 VIII. St. Peter 42.1 18.5 13.2 13.0 8.2 3.6 1.4 67.1 IX. Waltendorf 48.1 15.3 13.2 10.7 6.6 4.3 1.8 68.8 X. Ries 47.4 15.8 13.6 10.8 7.4 3.9 1.1 64.4 XI. Mariatrost 47.9 16.1 11.5 12.2 5.7 5.3 1.2 68.9 XII. Andritz 44.9 15.3 14.9 9.8 9.6 4.1 1.4 68.2 XIII. Gösting 37.2 16.1 23.1 6.1 14.1 2.3 1.1 54.2 XIV. Eggenberg 34.3 20.1 21.4 8.0 12.1 2.9 1.2 54.0 XV. Wetzelsdorf 37.2 16.1 24.3 5.2 13.6 2.5 1.1 55.2 XVI. Straßgang 40.6 12.8 23.1 5.1 14.5 2.9 1.0 57.5 XVII. Puntigam 38.0 15.5 25.4 5.5 11.7 2.5 1.5 50.8 Total 37.8 20.3 15.9 10.5 10.1 3.9 1.5 57.4 Source: Stadt Graz

References