2013 Liechtenstein general election

General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 3 February 2013, using a proportional representation system.[1] Four parties contested the elections; the centre-right Patriotic Union (VU) and Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP), centre-left Free List (FL) and newly created populist alliance The Independents (DU).

2013 Liechtenstein general election
Liechtenstein
← 2009 3 February 2013 2017 →

All 25 seats in the Landtag
13 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
FBP Adrian Hasler 40.00 10 −1
VU Thomas Zwiefelhofer 33.55 8 −5
DU Harry Quaderer 15.32 4 New
FL Derya Kesci & Pepo Frick 11.13 3 +2
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Klaus Tschütscher
VU
Adrian Hasler
FBP

Background

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The previous elections in 2009 were won by the Patriotic Union which managed to secure an absolute majority of the seats (13 out of 25). Despite winning a parliamentary majority, the Patriotic Union chose to form a coalition with the conservative Progressive Citizens' Party, which won 11 seats. The Free List won a single seat and became the opposition party.

Prime Minister Klaus Tschuetscher's term in office was marked by an effort to move the country away from being a tax haven. Prior to the election Tschuetscher, who is a member of the Patriotic Union (VU) party, declared he would not be seeking the premiership for a second term.[2]

Electoral system

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The 25 members of the Landtag were elected by open list proportional representation from two constituencies, Oberland with 15 seats and Unterland with 10 seats. Only parties and lists with more than 8% of the votes cast in each constituency were eligible to win seats in the Landtag.[3]

The constituency of Unterland consists of the municipalities of Eschen, Gamprin, Mauren, Ruggell and Schellenberg. The other constituency, Oberland, consists of the municipalities of Balzers, Planken, Schaan, Triesen, Triesenberg and Vaduz.

Opinion polls

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On 28 January 2013, the newspaper Liechtensteiner Vaterland published a poll in which they asked their readers, "Which party conducted the best election campaign?" About 10,000 people responded, and the results of the poll were as follows:[4]

Party %
Patriotic Union 44.8
Progressive Citizens' Party 40.5
Free List 7.9
The Independents 6.9

Results

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This was the first election in Liechtenstein in which four different political groups have won seats in the Landtag.[5] The success of The Independents was considered by observers to be a result of protest votes against austerity measures in the country.[5][6] It was also postulated that greater diversity in the Landtag was a result of a decreased partisanship of voters.[7]

Patriotic Union members expressed their disappointment at the result.[8] The VU suffered a large defeat, losing more than a third of its seats. The Progressive Citizens' Party lost one seat.[5]

 
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Progressive Citizens' Party77,64440.0010–1
Patriotic Union65,11833.558–5
The Independents29,73915.324New
Free List21,60411.133+2
Total194,105100.00250
Valid votes14,72395.83
Invalid/blank votes6404.17
Total votes15,363100.00
Registered voters/turnout19,25179.80
Source: Landtagswahlen

By electoral district

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Electoral district Seats Electorate Party Candidates Votes % Swing Seats
won
+/–
Oberland 15 12,521 Progressive Citizens' Party Christian Batliner
Alois Beck
Wendelin Lampert
Christine Wohlwend
Albert Frick
Eugen Nägele
Norman Marxer
Helmuth Büchel
Wilfried Ospelt
Barbara Schädler-Lampert
Günther Boss
René Vogt
Gaston Jehle
Carolina Marxer
Markus Bürgler
55,233 39.3   2.5 6 0
Patriotic Union Frank Konrad
Christoph Wenaweser
Thomas Vogt
Christoph Beck
Karin Rüdisser-Quaderer
Manfred Kaufmann
Peter Hilti
Marion Kindle-Kühnis
Stefan Schädler
Edith Maier Vogt
Leander Schädler
Markus Rutz
Ursula Oehry-Walther
Albert Vogt
Ines Rampone-Wanger
48,586 34.6   14.3 5   3
The Independents Harry Quaderer
Pio Schurti
Thomas Rehak
Paul Lenherr
Toni Jäger
Giovanna Gould
20,748 14.8 New 2 New
Free List Helen Konzett Bargetze
Thomas Lageder
Andreas Heeb
René Hasler
Derya Kesci
Elisabeth Seger
16,058 11.4   2.0 2   2
Unterland 10 6,730 Progressive Citizens' Party Johannes Kaiser
Elfried Hasler
Gerold Büchel
Manfred Batliner
Rainer Gopp
Carmen Zanghellini-Pfeiffer
René Schierscher
Hubert Lampert
Othmar Oehri
Petra Schäper-Vogt
22,411 41.9   6.3 4   1
Patriotic Union Judith Öhri
Violanda Lanter-Koller
Peter Büchel
Werner Kranz
Dominik Oehri
Gabriel Hoop
Martina Brändle-Nipp
Roland Alber
Philipp Gstöhl
Nina Schwarzkopf-Hilti
16,532 30.9   13.3 3   2
The Independents Herbert Elkuch
Erich Hasler
Peter Wachter

Johannes Ilic

8,991 16.8 New 2 New
Free List Wolfgang Marxer
Patrick Risch
5,546 10.4   2.7 1   1
Source: Office for Information and Communication of the Government

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Office for Information and Communication of the Government". Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  2. ^ Burmeister, Thomas (1 February 2013). "Cleaner but poorer, Liechtenstein goes to the polls". Europe online magazine. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  3. ^ Article 55 (1) of the Volksrechtegesetz (Law of People's Rights) Gesetze.li
  4. ^ Beste Beurteilung für Wahlkampf der VU Liechtensteiner Vaterland, 28 January 2013
  5. ^ a b c "New Independent party rattles Liechtenstein vote". GlobalPost. 3 February 2013. Archived from the original on 21 July 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Politics in tiny Liechtenstein shaken up by surprise election success of independents". Fox News. 3 February 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Mehrheit der Stimmzettel wurden angepasst". Vaterland. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  8. ^ "VU: Amann-Marxer und Rick zum Wahlausgang". Volksblott. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2013.