Only 33 percent

Poor turnout in the largest works council election

A good 7600 employees could have cast their votes in the works council election at Graz University Hospital on Wednesday. They could have: Because at 33.3 percent, the turnout was lower than ever before. The ÖVP-affiliated "Team-Klinikum Graz" suffered losses.

Team-Klinikum Graz (TKG, formerly ÖAAAB-FCG), headed by Michael Tripolt, caused a stir in April with the premature dissolution of the works council.

Premature election date
At the time, the chairman explained why the 7640 eligible voters should go to the ballot box a year earlier than planned: "We are facing turbulent political times in which our healthcare system threatens to become a playground for party politics and individual interests". This was primarily referring to the Styrian state elections in the fall and the impending shift to the right.

 Eiko Meister from UVA (Unabhängige Vertretung für alle - Independent Representation for All), in particular, voiced harsh criticism: "I think it is a bad sign to willingly break up a stable representation, especially in difficult times. Even more so when such a decision is clearly being driven by party political considerations," he said at the time in response to an inquiry from "Krone".

Two winners, one loser
The votes were counted by midnight on Thursday. The result is as follows: the TKG lost three seats, the UVA gained four seats and the FSG (Group of Social Democratic Trade Unionists), led by Sandra Hofer, gained two seats.

In total mandates this means: TKG/18, UVA/7, FSG/5. Team-Klinikum Graz thus retains an absolute majority despite losses.

All parliamentary groups were united by one wish in the run-up to the election: the highest possible voter turnout. Unfortunately, this was not the case: according to the count on Thursday morning, only 33.3% of employees and workers exercised their right to vote. In the previous election, the figure was a good 40 percent.