Chamber of Labor election

FSG ahead by a clear margin despite losses

Andreas Stangl, President of the AK Upper Austria.

(Bild: Alexander Schwarzl)

Despite losses, the Social Democratic Trade Unionist Group (FSG) with President Andreas Stangl remained the strongest force in the Chamber of Labor elections in Upper Austria, according to the preliminary final results late Tuesday evening. The Freedom Workers (FA-FPÖ) ousted the Christian Trade Unionists (ÖAAB-FCG) from second place.

President Andreas Stangl, who entered the race for the first time as the top candidate for the FSG, had taken over a difficult legacy from his long-time predecessor as head of the AK and ÖGB in Upper Austria. The president, who stepped down in 2021, had achieved the best result ever for the red unionists in the 2019 election with 71.02%. Under Stangl, the FSG achieved 66.2 percent.

New second place
The ÖAAB-FCG lost 2.3 percentage points and is now in third place behind the FA-FPÖ with 11.09%. The Freedom Party employee representatives gained almost 3.8 percentage points and now have a 14.99% share of the vote. The Green trade unionists recorded slight losses, achieving 3.93% (2019: 4.21%).

Voter turnout at 35 percent
The PFG - Deine Parteifreie Interessensvertretung list stood in the election for the first time. With 2.43%, they achieved a better result than the Gewerkschaftliche Linksblock (GLB) with 1.4%.

According to the provisional final result - the remaining absentee ballots will be counted by Friday - voter turnout was 35.25 percent. Almost 570,000 people were eligible to vote, 230,000 of whom were able to go to the polls at their workplaces.