State election 2025

SPÖ leader Doskozil wins the most preferential votes

Hans Peter Doskozil is the preferred candidate with 48,033 votes(Bild: APA/Helmuth Fohringer)

It has been official since Monday evening: Hans Peter Doskozil remains the preferred vote emperor in Burgenland. Second place goes to Norbert Hofer.

Exactly 48,033 Burgenlanders voted for Hans Peter Doskozil on the SPÖ provincial list on election Sunday. Doskozil received the most votes, namely 10,268, in his home district of Oberwart, making him the undisputed emperor of preferential votes in the provincial election.

The FPÖ came second in the regional elections in Burgenland. Norbert Hofer also came second in the preferential vote ranking.(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Second place went to FPÖ leader Norbert Hofer, who received 29,628 votes on the Freedom Party's state list, also the most in his home district of Oberwart with 6,459.

Pure disappointment: Christian Sagartz (ÖVP) only came third in the preferential votes on the provincial list. He lost the basic mandate in his home district of Mattersburg.(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

ÖVP top candidate Christian Sagartz follows in third place with 12,242 votes, only a quarter of Doskozil's total. A look at the regional constituency lists also reveals exciting constellations. For the first time in the Burgenland state election, the preferential votes decided which candidates on the district lists would enter the state parliament.

For the SPÖ in the Oberwart district, state councillor Leonhard Scheemann (2424) slipped back to fourth place behind state leader Hans Peter Doskozil (6134), National Council returnee Christian Drobits (4133 and Christian Dax (2648). Whether Schneemann will return to the government bench will be decided in the coming weeks. However, there have also been rumors that Schneemann is considering a move to the state holding company in exchange for giving up his position as a state councilor.

Kilian Brandstätter overtook Daniela Winkler on the SPÖ's regional constituency list in the district of Neusiedl am See.(Bild: Friedrich Radslpäck)

In the district of Neusiedl am See, too, state councillor Daniela Winkler was relegated by the voters with 3973 votes. Kilian Brandstätter came first with 5333 preferential votes.

Election day was particularly bitter for the ÖVP: the basic mandates in the district of Güssing and Mattersburg, the home district of top candidate Christian Sagartz, were also lost.

It is also still unclear whether former provincial parliament president and most recently member of parliament Verena Dunst (SPÖ), with her 1006 preferential votes on the provincial list, will receive the confidence for a new term in the provincial parliament. According to Dunst, she is ready to continue to stand up for the concerns of the people. "Humbled and grateful for the great result of preferential votes", Christian Drobits looks forward to his comeback in parliament. His former colleague in the National Council, Christian Ries, will enter the state parliament for the Freedom Party.

Of the 36 mandates, 22 will be allocated as basic mandates. The remaining seats will be allocated via the state lists.