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Carinthian economy: 94 elections in just two days

In a few months, Carinthia's business community will elect new representatives to represent their interests

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

In March, entrepreneurs throughout Austria will elect their representatives in the economic chambers - the process is highly complex. The "Krone" provides an overview.

After the election is before the election: while many Carinthians were still following the regional elections in Styria with excitement just a few days ago, businesspeople were already preparing for the next trip to the ballot box: On March 12 and 13, exactly 49,246 Carinthian entrepreneurs are required to vote for their representatives in the Chamber of Commerce: "Everyone who has a valid business license as of November 25 is eligible to vote," explains Alexander Kuess, Head of the Main Election Commission in Carinthia.

Hardly any election process is more complex than that of the Chamber of Commerce - after all, 94 elections take place in just two days: The members of all specialist group committees as well as the specialist representatives are directly elected. The result then determines the composition of the divisional representations and conferences, trade associations and economic parliaments in Carinthia and Austria.

What you should know as a voter
The Chamber of Commerce is divided into seven divisions and 88 specialist groups (five of which are in Carinthia) - "Trade and Crafts", for example, is the largest division and comprises 29 specialist groups. Entrepreneurs elect representatives in their own specialist group, who in turn can then fight for their interests in higher bodies such as the divisional representation, the specialist group committees and the economic parliament.

Anyone who is entitled to vote can either apply for a polling card in good time or cast their vote in person at the polling station in their electoral district.

Carinthia's WK President Jürgen Mandl wants to run again - the internal decision is still pending.

(Bild: WKK/Helge Bauer)

Wirtschaftsbund rules with an absolute majority
The last election in 2020 saw the Wirtschaftsbund (ÖVP) gain more than 13%, meaning that Chamber of Commerce President Jürgen Mandl was able to enjoy 77.3% of the vote - although not even one in three eligible voters cast their vote at the time (voter turnout: 28.2%). Similar to other chambers, the business community - unsurprisingly - also struggled with a low voter turnout.

With 7.5 percent of the vote, the Freiheitliche Wirtschaft came in second, just ahead of the Grüne Wirtschaft (7.4 percent). Only the Unos (NEOS) did worse than the Social Democratic Business Association (6.2 percent) with 0.9 percent. Jürgen Mandl beat Günter Bürger (FPÖ), Markus Ertl (Greens) and Alfred Trey (SPÖ) in 2020 - he and Trey are likely to run again in 2025. It remains to be seen whether the other parties will also choose the same top candidates.