Minus 12 percentage points

ÖVP-Wirtschaftsbund loses clearly in chamber election

Significant loss for Chamber of Commerce President Josef Herk(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

The result of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce election is a bombshell: although the ÖVP-Wirtschaftsbund is, as expected, clearly number 1, it has lost almost twelve percentage points. The Freiheitliche Wirtschaft and the Unos/Neos made clear gains. Voter turnout fell to a dramatic 27.8 percent.

The Wirtschaftsbund is likely to lose throughout Austria in the Chamber of Commerce elections, but particularly strongly in Styria. After 71 percent five years ago, it now only has 59.1 percent of the vote. This is bitter for President Josef Herk, who has survived an internal debate about his additional salaries in recent years. However, this may still be having an effect.

The new number 2 is the Freedom Party with Thomas Kainz: it increased from 7.1 to 16.6 percent of the vote. The Social Democratic Business Alliance (Karlheinz Winkler) slipped to third place: 9.8 percent (-1.2 percentage points). There were also losses for the Green Economy (from 9.1 to 7.1 percent). The pink Unos, this time with the leading duo of Christian Kovac and Vinzenz Harrer, made strong gains: from 1.1 to 7.2 percent.

The voter turnout was dramatically low: it fell from 38 percent to just 27.8 percent.