# 1997 Liechtenstein general election

General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 2 February 1997 to elect the 25 members of the Landtag. The Patriotic Union (VU) won a majority of thirteen seats, with the Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP) winning ten. The Free List (FL) won two seats. Voter turnout was 86.8%.
Incumbent Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein, Thomas Büchel, was the FBP's nomination for prime minister. The party received 39.2% of the vote, the lowest in its history to that point. The party subsequently ended the coalition with the VU that had existed since 1938 and moved into the opposition.

## Electoral system

The 25 members of the Landtag were elected by open list proportional representation from two constituencies, Oberland with 15 seats and Unterland with 10 seats. Only parties and lists with more than 8% of the votes cast in each constituency were eligible to win seats in the Landtag.

## Candidates

| Oberland | FBP | VU | FL |
| Oberland | Hedi Beck Christian Brunhart Arthur Büchel David Falk Gebhard Hoch Elmar Kindle Helmut Konrad Elisabeth Marxer-Ospelt Marco Ospelt Werner Ospelt Pio Schurti Peter Sele Karlheinz Vogt Klaus Wanger | Harald Bühler Norbert Bürzle Erina Frick Fridolin Frick Magdalena Frommelt Walter Hartmann Lorenz Heeb Dorothee Laternser Karlheinz Ospelt Volker Rheinberger Hubert Sele Peter Sprenger Walter Vogt Ronny Walser Peter Wolff | Evelyne Bermann Jutta Büchel Kaspar Frick René Hasler Claudia Heeb-Fleck Christel Hilti-Kaufmann Hans Frommelt Helen Marxer-Bulloni Nikolaus Ruther Paul Vogt Markus Wille |
| Unterland | FBP | VU | FL |
| Unterland | Otmar Hasler Arno Kind Rudolf Lampert Gabriel Marxer Johannes Matt Felix Näscher Gaudenz Öhri Roswitha Schafhauser Herlinde Tiefenthaler-Mündle Renate Wohlwend | Otto Büchel Hansjörg Goop Ingrid Hassler Oswald Kranz Isolde Lanter Viktor Meier Manfred Nipp Donath Oehri Ossi Oehri Susanne Schneider | Ingrid Allaart-Batliner Linda Mündle-Büchel Egon Matt Adolf Ritter Dominik Sele Rosemarie Schädler-Matt |
| Source: Liechtensteiner Volksblatt ||||

## Results

| | Patriotic Union | 82,786 | 49.23 | 13 | 0 |
| | Progressive Citizens' Party | 65,914 | 39.20 | 10 | –1 |
| | Free List | 19,455 | 11.57 | 2 | +1 |
| Total | Total | 168,155 | 100.00 | 25 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 12,634 | 98.62 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 177 | 1.38 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 12,811 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 14,765 | 86.77 | | |
| Source: IPU ||||||

### By electoral district

| Electoral district | Seats | Party | Elected members | Substitutes | Votes | % | Seats |
| Oberland | 15 | Patriotic Union | Peter Wolff Karlheinz Ospelt Peter Sprenger Hubert Sele Walter Hartmann Norbert Bürzle Volker Rheinberger Lorenz Heeb | Walter Vogt Dorothee Laternser | 63,860 | 50.9 | 8 |
| Oberland | 15 | Progressive Citizens' Party | Alois Beck Gebhard Hoch Klaus Wanger Marco Ospelt Elmar Kindle Helmut Konrad | Christian Brunhart Arthur Büchel | 47,143 | 37.5 | 6 |
| Oberland | 15 | Free List | Paul Vogt | Christel Hilti-Kaufmann | 14,382 | 11.4 | 1 |
| Unterland | 10 | Patriotic Union | Ingrid Hassler Oswald Kranz Otto Büchel Donath Oehri Hansjörg Goop | Viktor Meier | 18,895 | 44.2 | 5 |
| Unterland | 10 | Progressive Citizens' Party | Otmar Hasler Johannes Matt Gabriel Marxer Rudolf Lampert | Renate Wohlwend | 18,748 | 43.9 | 4 |
| Unterland | 10 | Free List | Egon Matt | Adolf Ritter | 5,067 | 11.9 | 1 |
| Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch 1998, Liechtensteiner Volksblatt |||||||||