General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 7 February 2021 to elect the 25 members of the Landtag.[2][3] 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.[4]
Hasler's second term was marked by regulation of digital business models in the financial centre.[9] Due to public attacks between Hasler and Landtag member Johannes Kaiser in 2018, Kaiser left the FBP and left the two parties with an equal amount of seats in the Landtag until he re-joined the party the following year.[10][11][12] In July 2019, government councillor Aurelia Frick was expelled due to an embezzlement scandal.[13]
The 25 members of the Landtag are elected by open listproportional 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.[14] The electoral threshold to win a seat is 8%.[15] Landtag members sit for a four-year term.[14] Once formed, the Landtag elects the prime minister and four government councillors who govern in a cabinet.[16] 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.[14]
Campaign
Main parties
In a press conference on 27 May 2020, Adrian Hasler declared his intention to not seek re-election.[17] The FBP nominated Sabine Monauni, the Liechtenstein ambassador to the European Union, for prime minister on 18 August 2020, being the first woman nominated for the position in Liechtenstein's history. Additionally, the party nominated incumbent government councillor Katrin Eggenberger and deputy government councillor Manuel Frick as government candidates.[18][19]
The VU nominated incumbent deputy prime minister Daniel Risch for prime minister on 10 September 2020. Additionally, the party nominated incumbent government councillor Dominique Hasler and lawyer Graziella Marok-Wachter as government candidates.[20] In an interview in December, Risch stated that he would not be a part of the next government should the party loose the election.[21]
The election was seen as a two-horse race.[22] There were only marginal policy differences between the VU and FBP.[22][23] The newspaper Liechtensteiner Vaterland described the run-up to the election as "lacklustre" and "uncontroversial".[24] VU party president Günther Fritz stated that a coalition with the FBP was the "most likely" outcome should the VU win the election.[25]
Opposition parties
Commentators expected the DU, which had received 18.4% of the vote in 2017, to perform poorly in the election, perhaps failing to meet the electoral threshold.[23] The party's two remaining Landtag members, party leader Harry Quaderer and Jürgen Beck, announced their intention to not seek re-election in October 2020.[26][27] On the other hand, the DpL was expected to achieve better results, perhaps as high as 20%.[23] In October 2020, following Quaderer's withdrawal as a candidate, party leader Thomas Rehak stated that a joint list between the DU and DpL was "quite obvious".[28] Similarly, deputy member of the Landtag Ado Vogt, belonging to the DU, said "never say never" in regards to reconciliation with the DpL, but ultimately aiming for the party to run its own list.[26]
The Free List had been in political dispute since 2019 when Landtag member Thomas Lageder, belonging to the party, voted in favour of the motion of no confidence against Aurelia Frick, against the wishes of party leaders Conny Büchel Brühwiler and Pepo Frick. The conflict remerged in late 2020 when Lageder threatened to withdraw his candidacy in the election. In addition, three party board members also threatened to resign and two other Landtag candidates announced that they would also renounce their candidacy should Lageder do so.[29] Ultimately, the two sides came to an agreement and the party presented its candidates on 19 November, including Lageder.[30] The party had previously ruled out cooperation with the DpL.[31]
Procedure
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.[14]
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.[14] The deadline for presenting Landtag candidates was set for 20 November 2020.[32] It was reported that parties experienced difficulty finding candidates due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[33]
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.[34][22][35] 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.[34][36] 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.[22] 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.[34][36]
A total of 15,901 ballots were cast, resulting in a 78% voter turnout. The vast majority (97%) of ballots were cast by post.[34] The results were described by local media as some of the most exciting in recent history.[4]
Immediately following the election, it was not clear who had won the election.[37] A recount was conducted the following day, but was delayed due to COVID-19 protection measures. It ultimately determined on 9 February that the VU was the winner by a lead of 42 votes.[38] The VU invited the FBP to enter negotiations for the formation of a coalition government.[39] The Free List also stated that it was open to participation in government should coalition negotiations between the two parties fail.
The VU and FBP entered into a renewed coalition government, ultimately under the leadership of Risch. As the junior party in the coalition, Monauni became deputy prime minister.[40] The FBP nominated Frick for government over Eggenberger, which caused controversy within the party due to her allegedly being promised a seat in government in July 2019 by party president Marcus Vogt.[41] Though supporters of Eggenberger attempted to block Frick's nomination at the party conference on 22 March, his nomination was ultimately upheld.[41][42] The new government was sworn in on 25 March.[43]
↑"New Government Sworn In". Embassy of the Principality of Liechtenstein in Washington D.C. 26 March 2021. Archived from the original on 11 February 2025. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
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