| Election Name: | 2009 Vorarlberg state election |
| Country: | Vorarlberg |
| Flag Year: | state |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 2004 Vorarlberg state election |
| Previous Year: | 2004 |
| Next Election: | 2014 Vorarlberg state election |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
| Election Date: | 20 September 2009 |
| Seats For Election: | All 36 seats in the Landtag of Vorarlberg |
| Majority Seats: | 19 |
| Turnout: | 178,711 (68.4%) 7.8% |
| Leader1: | Herbert Sausgruber |
| Party1: | Austrian People's Party |
| Last Election1: | 21 seats, 54.9% |
| Popular Vote1: | 90,108 |
| Seats1: | 20 |
| Seat Change1: | 1 |
| Percentage1: | 50.8% |
| Swing1: | 4.1% |
| Leader2: | Dieter Egger |
| Party2: | Freedom Party of Austria |
| Last Election2: | 5 seats, 12.9% |
| Seats2: | 9 |
| Seat Change2: | 4 |
| Popular Vote2: | 44,562 |
| Percentage2: | 25.1% |
| Swing2: | 12.2% |
| Leader4: | Johannes Rauch |
| Party4: | The Greens – The Green Alternative |
| Last Election4: | 4 seats, 10.2% |
| Seats4: | 4 |
| Seat Change4: | 0 |
| Popular Vote4: | 18,763 |
| Percentage4: | 10.6% |
| Swing4: | 0.4% |
| Leader5: | Michael Ritsch |
| Party5: | Social Democratic Party of Austria |
| Last Election5: | 6 seats, 16.9% |
| Seats5: | 3 |
| Seat Change5: | 3 |
| Popular Vote5: | 17,779 |
| Percentage5: | 10.0% |
| Swing5: | 6.9% |
| Map Size: | 200px |
| Governor | |
| Before Election: | Herbert Sausgruber |
| Before Party: | Austrian People's Party |
| After Election: | Herbert Sausgruber |
| After Party: | Austrian People's Party |
The 2009 Vorarlberg state election was held on 20 September 2009 to elect the members of the Landtag of Vorarlberg.
The governing Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) retained their majority with losses, while the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) recovered nearly all the losses it had suffered in 2004. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) lost much of their support and fell to fourth place behind The Greens, who stayed essentially level with the strong result they achieved in 2004. Governor Herbert Sausgruber was re-elected by the Landtag.
In the 2004 election, the ÖVP achieved a strong result which allowed them to regain a comfortable majority. This was matched by major losses for the FPÖ, who fell from second to third place. Both the SPÖ and Greens also benefited. In addition, turnout fell catastrophically from 88% to just 60%.
The 36 seats of the Landtag of Vorarlberg are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between four multi-member constituencies, corresponding to the districts of Vorarlberg. For parties to receive any representation in the Landtag, they must either win at least one seat in a constituency directly, or clear a 5 percent state-wide electoral threshold. Seats are distributed in constituencies according to the Hagenbach-Bischoff quota, with any remaining seats allocated at the state level, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's vote share and its share of seats.
The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag.
| Name | Ideology | Leader | 2004 result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | ||||||
| ÖVP | Austrian People's Party | Christian democracy | Herbert Sausgruber | 54.9% | |||
| SPÖ | Social Democratic Party of Austria | Social democracy | Michael Ritsch | 16.9% | |||
| FPÖ | Freedom Party of Austria | Right-wing populism Euroscepticism | Dieter Egger | 12.9% | |||
| GRÜNE | The Greens – The Green Alternative | Green politics | Johannes Rauch | 10.2% | |||
In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, four parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.
| Party | Votes | % | +/− | Seats | +/− | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor= | Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) | 90,108 | 50.79 | –4.13 | 20 | –1 | |
| bgcolor= | Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) | 44,562 | 25.12 | +12.18 | 9 | +4 | |
| bgcolor= | The Greens – The Green Alternative (GRÜNE) | 18,763 | 10.58 | +0.41 | 4 | ±0 | |
| bgcolor= | Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) | 17,779 | 10.02 | –6.85 | 3 | –3 | |
| The Gsiberger (GSI) | 3,090 | 1.74 | New | 0 | New | ||
| bgcolor= | Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) | 2,134 | 1.20 | New | 0 | New | |
| wir-gemeinsam.at (WIR) | 647 | 0.36 | New | 0 | New | ||
| Kiebitz | 331 | 0.19 | New | 0 | New | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,297 | – | – | – | – | ||
| Total | 178,711 | 100 | – | 36 | 0 | ||
| align=left colspan=2 | Registered voters/turnout | 261,132 | 68.44 | +7.80 | – | – | |
| align=left colspan=7 | Source: Vorarlberg Government | ||||||
| Constituency | ÖVP | FPÖ | Grüne | SPÖ | Others | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| class=unsortable | % | class=unsortable | % | class=unsortable | % | class=unsortable | % | class=unsortable | % |
| 52.0 | 25.6 | 7.2 | 12.1 | 3.1 | |||||
| 54.6 | 22.6 | 9.8 | 9.7 | 3.3 | |||||
| 45.1 | 29.2 | 11.7 | 9.8 | 4.2 | |||||
| 49.6 | 24.8 | 12.9 | 9.2 | 3.5 | |||||
| Total | 50.8 | 25.1 | 10.6 | 10.0 | 3.5 | ||||
| Source: Vorarlberg Government |