Greater Graz (National Council electoral district)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Greater Graz | |
|---|---|
| Graz und Umgebung | |
| Electoral District for the National Council | |
.svg) Location of Greater Graz within Austria | |
| District | List |
| State | Styria |
| Population | 466,471 (2024)[1] |
| Electorate | 317,873 (2019) |
| Area | 1,212 km2 (2023)[2] |
| Current Electoral District | |
| Created | 2013 |
| Seats | 9 (2013–present) |
| Members[3] | List |
| Created from | List |
Greater Graz (German: Graz und Umgebung), also known as Electoral District 6A (German: Wahlkreis 6A), is one of the 39 multi-member regional electoral districts of the National Council, the lower house of the Austrian Parliament, the national legislature of Austria. The electoral district was established in 2012 following the re-organisation of the regional electoral districts in Styria to reflect the new administrative district structure and came into being at the following legislative election in 2013. It consists of the city of Graz and the district of Greater Graz in the state of Styria. The electoral district currently elects nine of the 183 members of the National Council using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2019 legislative election the constituency had 317,873 registered electors.
Greater Graz was established in 2012 following the re-organisation of the regional electoral districts in Styria to reflect the new administrative district structure.[4] It consisted of the city of Graz and the district of Greater Graz in the state of Styria.[5] The district was initially allocated eight seats in April 2013.[6] Electoral regulations require the allocation of seats amongst the electoral districts to be recalculated following each national census and in June 2013 the number of seats allocated to Greater Graz was increased to nine based on the population as at the 2011 national census.[7]
Electoral system
Greater Graz currently elects nine of the 183 members of the National Council using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system.[8][9][10] The allocation of seats is carried out in three stages.[11] In the first stage, seats are allocated to parties (lists) at the regional level using a state-wide Hare quota (wahlzahl) (valid votes in the state divided by the number of seats in the state).[12][13] In the second stage, seats are allocated to parties at the state/provincial level using the state-wide Hare quota (any seats won by the party at the regional stage are subtracted from the party's state seats).[12][13] In the third and final stage, seats are allocated to parties at the federal/national level using the D'Hondt method (any seats won by the party at the regional and state stages are subtracted from the party's federal seats).[12][13] Only parties that reach the 4% national threshold, or have won a seat at the regional stage, compete for seats at the state and federal stages.[12][13]
Electors may cast one preferential vote for individual candidates at the regional, state and federal levels.[13] Split-ticket voting (panachage), or voting for more than one candidate at each level, is not permitted and will result in the ballot paper being invalidated.[13][14] At the regional level, candidates must receive preferential votes amounting to at least 14% of the valid votes cast for their party to over-ride the order of the party list (10% and 7% respectively for the state and federal levels).[14]