The Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor presented the preliminary election results of the 2024 Chamber of Labor election this morning. The FSG achieved a two-thirds majority despite slight losses. The Freedom Workers make gains and displace ÖAAB-FCG from second place.
OO. The FSG with its top candidate and AK OÖ President Andreas Stangl fell from 71 percent to 66 percent of the vote. Nevertheless, the Social Democrats remain the dominant force in Upper Austria. Employee representation. “Achieving a two-thirds majority the first time you run is a sensational result. This confirms our work, but the downside is the low voter turnout,” said Stangl. Only 35 percent of those eligible to vote exercised their right to vote – in the last election in 2019, voter turnout was 41 percent.
“Little interest in politics”
Stangl explains the low interest in the election as the population’s disillusionment with politics. “Workers with low incomes in particular no longer see any point in voting. But given the poor job the federal government is doing, that’s no wonder.” 570,000 employees were entitled to vote in Upper Austria.
SPÖ state party chairman Michael Lindner highlights the work of the unions. “It is the unions’ strong salary and salary agreements that have noticeably protected the population’s wages and salaries against inflation. This creates trust.”
The preliminary result:
Freedom Party takes second place
There is a change in second place: the Christian Trade Unionist Group (ÖAAB/FCG) had to give up and slipped to third place (from 13.4 to 11 percent). The ÖVP list is overtaken by the Freedom Party. The Freedom Workers (FA) improved by almost 4.8 percent and took second place with 14.99 percent.
FPÖ state party chairman Manfred Haimbuchner is pleased with the increase in votes: “According to the preliminary final result, we were able to achieve 14.99 percent, second place for the first time and an increase of five mandates. The Freedom Workers’ top candidate, Gerhard Knoll, and his team succeeded in achieving this Freedom workers will represent liberal values such as performance, responsibility and self-determination in the AK with 16 workers’ chamber councils in the future.”
ÖAAB-FCG lose votes
With a minus of 2.32 percent, the ÖAAB-FCG team suffered a defeat. The two top candidates Cornelia Pöttinger and Franz Lumetsberger only received 11.09 percent of the vote. “Despite the difficult environment, the result is painful and unsatisfactory. We thank the voters for their trust and accept the order and continue to work together to represent the interests of employees, families and commuters. “
ÖAAB state chairwoman Christine Haberlander is combative: “We will do everything in the next few years to change this result again next time. We will start working on this from today. That is our mission from today.”
The other places: The green trade unionists/AUGE again got around 4 percent, the PFG (non-party interest group) got 2.4 percent and the trade union Left Bloc got 1.4 percent of the votes.
The final result of the AK election in Upper Austria will be known after the voting cards have been counted on Friday, March 22nd. Only then will the mandates be distributed in the AK general assembly.