AK election in Carinthia

Victory with losses: only one in three votes cast

Election manager Turrini, AK directors Hochstetter and Kißlinger and President Goach presented the election results.(Bild: ©HelgeBauer)

The Chamber of Labor election is over: there was not only a big drop in voter turnout. However, the Freedom Party and the health workers can be pleased. The "Krone" takes a close look at the result.

After ten days, in which the Carinthian Chamber of Labor called around 179,000 employees to the ballot box, the preliminary election results are now known - and they are quite interesting: although Günther Goach (Social Democratic Union) is the clear winner by a large margin (69.3 percent), he still has to accept a drop of 8.3 percentage points: "Nevertheless, a respectable result", which according to Goach is due to the excellent AK performance of the past and the way in which the Carinthians' trust was handled.

Low voter turnout "doesn't suit" Goach at all
"Over the past five years, AK Kärnten has won a total of 285 million euros for employees and provided over 950,000 consultations," adds AK Deputy Director Hochstetter-Lackner. What the newly elected President does not like at all, however, is the low voter turnout of just 32.5 percent! "A very worrying trend in terms of democratic policy." Compared to elections in other federal states, however, Carinthia remains average.

I don't like the low voter turnout at all! This is a very worrying development!

Günther Goach, neugewählter AK-Präsident

Manfred Mischelin, top candidate for the Freedom Party Employees, has reason to be pleased. With an increase of 5.5 percentage points to 18.6 percent, the blue party secured two seats on the board for the first time since 2000. "We obviously did everything right and focused on the issues that really affect people," said Mischelin, thanking his team. While the ÖAAB fell minimally to 5.2 percent, the General List of Healthcare Professionals (ALG), which ran for the first time, entered the General Assembly with two mandates.Goach now wants to "bundle all forces" in order to continue working for the employees.

Election figures

• More Carinthian employees than ever before were able to take part in the AK elections this year. 179,197 eligible voters represent an increase of almost 9,000 people compared to 2019.
• However, the number of votes cast was down by 7866 (as of March 14). This meant that voter turnout fell by 6.32% to 32.48%.
• The enormous difference between the general electoral district (17.2 percent) and the company electoral district (46.39 percent) is striking. In the latter, voters can vote in the company itself, not just by postal vote or in a public polling station.
• The "most well-behaved" district was St. Veit, where 62.98 percent of employees voted in the companies - many of which are traditional businesses.
• The "laziest" district in the company district was Feldkirchen with a voter turnout of 35.77 percent.
• Lower enthusiasm and low voter turnout cost AK President Günther Goach and the FSG almost 11,000 votes.

What the result means for the distribution of seats
The distribution of mandates is therefore as follows: 50 mandates for the Goach list (2019: 56 seats), 13 mandates for the Freedom Party (2019: 9 seats), 3 mandates for FCG-ÖAAB (2019: 4), 2 mandates for AUGE/UG, 2 mandates for ALG. The GLB did not win any seats. The AK board will consist of nine representatives from the social democratic trade union and two from the Freedom Party.

Minimal deviations may occur after the last postal ballot cards received on time have been counted: "We are assuming around 600 to 800 votes that will still be taken into account by Monday," explains election manager Maximilian Turrini.