Causa in Forchtenstein – mayor’s round was canceled by the Constitutional Court

The official of the electoral office opened the election file on his own authority, contrary to the provisions of the municipal election regulations, and then brought it unlocked to the district administration. This is contrary to the requirement to keep the election files. As a result of this illegality, the election result could not be determined objectively and reliably on the basis of the election files, the re-election had to be cancelled, the Constitutional Court justified.

The former SPÖ mayor took home the election act
The ÖVP Forchtenstein had repeatedly criticized the processes surrounding the second round of the elections and, after the state electoral authority rejected the election challenge, turned to the Constitutional Court. The result of the second round was very close, SPÖ candidate Alexander Knaak won with five votes more than ÖVP deputy mayor Josef Neusteurer. The former SPÖ mayor took the unsealed election file home and sent it to the district’s election authority after about an hour, Neusteurer said in February.

New election in 100 days
The state’s election authority stated that the decision only affects the shortlist for the mayoral election and that the election process must be repeated from the moment the second round is announced. The repetition will be announced by the national government within six weeks after the announcement of the VfGH decision. According to the B-VG, re-election must take place within 100 days of the decision being issued. According to the state’s election authority, the mayor will remain in office until the swearing-in of the reelection-elected mayor.

ÖVP: “Victory for democracy”
The ÖVP welcomed the Constitutional Court’s decision. Both state party chairman Christian Sagartz and defeated candidate Neusteurer spoke in broadcasts of a “victory for democracy”. “Today’s knowledge gives the citizens of Forchtenstein back their confidence in democracy,” Neusteurer saw himself as confirmed. “From the start there were justified doubts about the proper handling of the second round,” said Sagartz. The SPÖ is responsible for the “election chaos”, he further criticized.

He accepts the decision, also explained in a broadcast by SPÖ state manager Roland Fürst. He also pointed out that the ÖVP had originally contested the election in order to secure a recount – keeping its five-vote lead. The VfGH also did not question this result. Mayor Knaak has already shown that he is busy with the implementation of many important matters, Fürst also emphasized.

The Constitutional Court, on the other hand, rejected the contestation of the October 2022 election of the Mattersburg Municipal Council through the list “TVM – Tschürtzwarts Mattersburg”. Listing Johann Tschürtz, president of the FPÖ club in the state parliament, justified her challenge by saying that using d’Hondt’s procedure for the election of the city council contradicted the principle of proportional representation and the principle of equality , because it systematically favored larger parties. In Mattersburg, this meant that TVM, which won three terms, failed to secure any of the seven seats on the municipal council.

In this case, the Constitutional Court referred to the Federal Constitution, according to which any party represented in the municipal council has the right to be represented in the municipal council “according to its strength”. The B-VG thus refers to the principles of proportional representation, but the legislator is not bound by a specific system for the distribution of mandates. It was emphasized that the Constitutional Court had repeatedly ruled that there were no constitutional objections to d’Hondt’s procedure for the election of the municipal council.