# 2021 Liechtenstein general election

General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 7 February 2021 to elect the 25 members of the Landtag. The Patriotic Union (VU) and Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP) both won ten seats, with the VU receiving just 42 votes more than the FBP. The Independents (DU), which finished third in the 2017 elections but then suffered a split in 2018 when three of its five MPs broke away to form Democrats for Liechtenstein (DpL), failed to win a seat, while DpL won two. The Free List retained its three seats, becoming the third-largest party in the Landtag. Voter turnout was 78%.
Following the elections, the VU and FBP were asked to form a coalition government, ultimately under Daniel Risch (VU). If FBP leader Sabine Monauni had become prime minister following the election, she would have been the first female head of government.

## Electoral system

The 25 members of the Landtag are elected by open list proportional representation from two constituencies, Oberland with 15 seats and Unterland with 10 seats. Voters vote for a party list and then may strike through candidates for whom they do not wish to cast a preferential vote, and may add names of candidates from other lists. The electoral threshold to win a seat is 8%. Landtag members sit for a four-year term. Once formed, the Landtag elects the prime minister and four government councillors who govern in a cabinet. Voting is compulsory by law and most is carried out by post. Polling stations are open only for one and a half hours on election day. Citizens over 18 years of age who have been resident in the country for one month prior to election day are eligible to vote.

## Campaign

The election was seen as a two-horse race. There were only marginal policy differences between the VU and FBP. In 2017 the FBP won 35.2% of the vote and the VU 33.7%. Incumbent prime minister Adrian Hasler declared his intention not to run for re-election during a press conference on 27 May 2020.
Commentators expected the DU, which had received 18.4% of the vote in 2017, to perform poorly in the 2021 election, perhaps failing to meet the electoral threshold. The DpL was expected to achieve better results, perhaps as high as 20%. The Free List party, which was formerly republican, received 12.6% of the vote in 2017.
Election campaigning is largely unregulated and carried out via social media, newspapers and broadcast media. All parties are permitted to post an official campaign video on the websites of the two main newspapers in the country. The elections are the first to be carried out under the 2019 Law on Payment of Contributions to Political Parties which limited public funding to registered political parties, banned large anonymous donations and required the publication of accounts by parties.

## Candidates

Candidates have the same eligibility criteria as voters. Political parties must have the support of 30 voters from a constituency to be eligible to nominate a candidate list in it.
| Oberland | FBP | VU | FL |
| Oberland | Eva-Maria Bechter Albert Frick Andrea Heutschi-Rhomberg Elke Kindle Wendelin Lampert Daniel Ospelt Bettina Petzold-Mähr Sascha Quaderer Sebastian Schädler Daniel Seger Nadine Vogelsang Damian Wille | Georges Baur Rainer Beck Dagmar Bühler-Nigsch Roswitha Feger-Risch Walter Frick Etienne Frommelt Otto C. Frommelt Markus Gstöhl Norma Heidegger Gabriela Hilti-Saleem Manfred Kaufmann Philip Schädler Günter Vogt Thomas Vogt | Conny Büchel Brühwiler Nadine Gstöhl Manuela Haldner-Schierscher René Hasler Georg Kaufmann Thomas Lageder Moritz Rheinberger Corina Vogt-Beck |
| Oberland | DU | DpL | |
| Oberland | Gregor Ott Pio Schurti Ado Vogt | Bruno Foser Philipp Foser Herta Kaufmann Alex Meier Pascal Ospelt René Pawlitzek Thomas Rehak Roland Rick | |
| Unterland | FBP | VU | FL |
| Unterland | Alexander Batliner Thomas Hasler Sonja Hersche Veronika Hilti-Wohlwend Franziska Hoop Johannes Kaiser Daniel Oehry Karin Zech-Hoop | Stephan Agnolazza-Hoop Hubert Büchel Peter Frick Dietmar Lampert Gunilla Marxer-Kranz Mario Marxer Andreas Wenzel Mario Wohlwend | Sandra Fausch Harry Hasler Andrea Matt Patrick Risch |
| Unterland | DU | DpL | |
| Unterland | Casper Hoop Adi Wohlwend | Agnes Dentsch Herbert Elkuch Gabriele Haas Erich Hasler Johannes Ilic Reinhard Marxer Norbert Obermayr Toni Schächle | |
| Source: Landtagswahl 2021 ||||

## Results

The VU and FBP both received 35.9% of the vote. The result was close between the top two parties with the VU initially reported to have received just 23 votes more than the FBP; in later results, the gap was marginally wider at 42 votes. The FBP result was a slight improvement on their 2017 performance when they received 35.2% of the vote, while the VU increased their vote share from 33.7%. Both the VU and FBP won ten seats, an increase from eight and nine respectively. The FBP and VU will be called upon to form a coalition to govern the country as they had before the election. With both parties tied on ten seats, it was not clear which party leader would be elected prime minister. The Independents saw their share fall from 18.4% to just 4.2% and failed to win a seat, a reduction of five on their 2017 result. The Free List received 12.9% of the vote, a moderate increase from their 12.7% in 2017, and kept their representation at three seats which made them the third-largest party in the Landtag. The new party, Democrats for Liechtenstein received 11.1% of the vote and won two seats.
A total of 15,901 ballots were cast, resulting in a 78% voter turnout. The vast majority (97%) of ballots were cast by post. The results were described by local media as some of the most exciting in recent history.
| | Patriotic Union | 72,361 | 35.89 | 10 | +2 |
| | Progressive Citizens' Party | 72,319 | 35.87 | 10 | +1 |
| | Free List | 25,943 | 12.87 | 3 | 0 |
| | Democrats for Liechtenstein | 22,456 | 11.14 | 2 | New |
| | The Independents | 8,556 | 4.24 | 0 | –5 |
| Total | Total | 201,635 | 100.00 | 25 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 15,284 | 96.12 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 617 | 3.88 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 15,901 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 20,384 | 78.01 | | |
| Source: Landtagswahlen 2021 ||||||

### By electoral district

| Electoral district | Seats | Electorate | Party | Elected members | Subsititutes | Votes | % | Swing | Seats won | +/– |
| Oberland | 15 | 13,137 | Patriotic Union | Manfred Kaufmann Thomas Vogt Dagmar Bühler-Nigsch Günter Vogt Walter Frick Norma Heidegger | Philip Schädler Markus Gstöhl | 54,018 | 36.9 | 2.5 | 6 | 1 |
| Oberland | 15 | 13,137 | Progressive Citizens' Party | Sebastian Gassner Daniel Seger Wendelin Lampert Albert Frick Sascha Quaderer Bettina Petzold-Mähr | Nadine Vogelsang Elke Kindle | 50,844 | 34.7 | 1.1 | 6 | 1 |
| Oberland | 15 | 13,137 | Free List | Georg Kaufmann Manuela Haldner-Schierscher | Nadine Gstöhl | 20,026 | 13.7 | 0.4 | 2 | 0 |
| Oberland | 15 | 13,137 | Democrats for Liechtenstein | Thomas Rehak | Pascal Ospelt | 14,127 | 9.7 | New | 1 | New |
| Oberland | 15 | 13,137 | The Independents | – | – | 7,370 | 5.0 | 13.6 | 0 | 3 |
| Unterland | 10 | 7,247 | Progressive Citizens' Party | Franziska Hoop Johannes Kaiser Daniel Oehry Karin Zech-Hoop | Thomas Hasler | 21,475 | 38.9 | 0.6 | 4 | 0 |
| Unterland | 10 | 7,247 | Patriotic Union | Gunilla Marxer-Kranz Peter Frick Mario Wohlwend Dietmar Lampert | Hubert Büchel | 18,343 | 33.2 | 1.2 | 4 | 1 |
| Unterland | 10 | 7,247 | Democrats for Liechtenstein | Herbert Elkuch | Erich Hasler | 8,329 | 15.1 | New | 1 | New |
| Unterland | 10 | 7,247 | Free List | Patrick Risch | Sandra Fausch | 5,715 | 10.7 | 0.1 | 1 | 0 |
| Unterland | 10 | 7,247 | The Independents | – | – | 1,186 | 2.1 | 15.6 | 0 | 2 |
| Source: Landtagswahlen 2021 ||||||||||||