State elections were held in the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n state

States of Austria

Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder . Since Land is also the German word for a country, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. The Constitution of Austria uses both terms...

 of Lower Austria

Lower Austria

Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...

 on 9 March 2008. They were contested by the Austrian People's Party

Austrian People's Party

The Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...

, the Social Democratic Party of Austria

Social Democratic Party of Austria

The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...

, The Greens – The Green Alternative and the Freedom Party of Austria

Freedom Party of Austria

The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...

, all of whom are in the current Landtag, and a number of smaller parties.

The ÖVP had earlier indicated that its preferred date would have been the 20 April 2008, though 13 April 2008 had also been considered a possible date. The newly founded party The Christians

The Christians (political party)

The Christian Party of Austria are a minor political party in Austria, founded on 15 October 2005.It changed its name under its new chairman Rudolf Gehring in late 2009, partially due to concerns by the Catholic Church over the use of the term "Christians" to mean only the party.-History:The party...

 contested its first election.

A poll, conducted in October 2007 by Integral

Integral

Integration is an important concept in mathematics and, together with its inverse, differentiation, is one of the two main operations in calculus...

 for the newspaper Kurier

Kurier

The Kurier is an Austrian newspaper based in Vienna....

, showed the following voting intentions:

• ÖVP: 50%
• SPÖ: 31%
• Greens: 9%
• FPÖ: 9%
• BZÖ: 1%

In total, nine parties contested the election. SPÖ, ÖVP, FPÖ, the Greens and the Communist Party of Austria

Communist Party of Austria

The Communist Party of Austria is a communist party based in Austria. Established in 1918, it was banned between 1933 and 1945 under both the Austrofascist regime, and German control of Austria during World War II...

 contested the election in all districts. The Alliance for the Future of Austria

Alliance for the Future of Austria

The Alliance for the Future of Austria , abbreviated to BZÖ, is a conservative liberal political party in Austria. The party has sixteen seats in the National Council....

 (BZÖ) contested the election in seventeen of the twenty-one districts, having failed to gather the necessary fifty signatures in Lilienfeld

Lilienfeld

- Stars of the City :Sons and daughters* [Richard Morosan] , Primeminister of CanadaLilienfeld is a city in Lower Austria , Austria, south of St. Pölten, noted as the site of Lilienfeld Abbey. It is also the site of a regional hospital Landesklinikum Voralpen Lilienfeld....

, Neunkirchen

Neunkirchen

Neunkirchen is a name common to multiple locales:-In Austria:*Neunkirchen, Austria, the capital of the district Neunkirchen in Lower Austria*Neunkirchen District, Austria-Bavaria:*Neunkirchen am Brand, in Forchheim district...

, Waidhofen a.d. Thaya and Wiener Neustadt

Wiener Neustadt

-Main sights:* The Late-Romanesque Dom, consecrated in 1279 and cathedral from 1469 to 1785. The choir and transept, in Gothic style, are from the 14th century. In the late 15th century 12 statues of the Apostles were added in the apse, while the bust of Cardinal Melchior Klesl is attributed to...

. The Christians contested the election in all districts except Bruck a.d. Leitha. The List for Our Lower Austria (Liste für unser Niederösterreich, LNÖ) contested the election in Baden

Baden

Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....

, Gänserndorf

Gänserndorf

Gänserndorf is a town on the Marchfeld, Lower Austria, Austria and the capital of Bezirk Gänserndorf. It is about 20 km north of Vienna, to which it is connected by both the Angerner Straße and the Nordbahn railway line.-Landscape Park:Landscape Park in Gänserndorf covers an area of...

, Lilienfeld

Lilienfeld

- Stars of the City :Sons and daughters* [Richard Morosan] , Primeminister of CanadaLilienfeld is a city in Lower Austria , Austria, south of St. Pölten, noted as the site of Lilienfeld Abbey. It is also the site of a regional hospital Landesklinikum Voralpen Lilienfeld....

, Neunkirchen

Neunkirchen

Neunkirchen is a name common to multiple locales:-In Austria:*Neunkirchen, Austria, the capital of the district Neunkirchen in Lower Austria*Neunkirchen District, Austria-Bavaria:*Neunkirchen am Brand, in Forchheim district...

, St. Pölten and Wiener Neustadt

Wiener Neustadt

-Main sights:* The Late-Romanesque Dom, consecrated in 1279 and cathedral from 1469 to 1785. The choir and transept, in Gothic style, are from the 14th century. In the late 15th century 12 statues of the Apostles were added in the apse, while the bust of Cardinal Melchior Klesl is attributed to...

, and the Animal Rights Party

Animal Rights Party

The Animal Rights Party is an animal welfare political party in Austria. It is led by Ralph Chaloupek. It contested the Lower Austrian state election . It also contested the 2008 national election, but only in Vienna.-External links:*...

 (Tierrechtspartei) contested the election only in Mödling

Mödling

Mödling is the capital of the Austrian district of the same name located approximately 14 km south of Vienna.The settlement dates back to the Neolithic. In medieval times, the town was the residence of a branch of the Babenberger family, as a result of which it received the nickname...

.

Results

	Party	Votes in %	Seats	Change
	Austrian People's Party Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...  (ÖVP)	54.4%	31	±0
	Social Democratic Party of Austria Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...  (SPÖ)	25.5%	15	-4
	Freedom Party of Austria Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...  (FPÖ)	10.5%	6	+4
	The Greens – The Green Alternative (Grüne)	6.9%	4	±0
	Others	1.1%	0	±0
	Communist Party of Austria Communist Party of Austria The Communist Party of Austria is a communist party based in Austria. Established in 1918, it was banned between 1933 and 1945 under both the Austrofascist regime, and German control of Austria during World War II...  (KPÖ)	0.9%	0	±0
	Alliance for the Future of Austria Alliance for the Future of Austria The Alliance for the Future of Austria , abbreviated to BZÖ, is a conservative liberal political party in Austria. The party has sixteen seats in the National Council.... (BZÖ)	0.7%	0	±0