Tyrol chamber election adds nearly 10,000 eligible voters

Nearly 10,000 more people will be eligible to vote in Tyrol’s agricultural chamber election in February 2027 than in the previous election five years earlier, ORF reported. The potential electorate will rise to about 47,000 following an amendment to the chamber law.

The change extends membership and voting rights to the parents of farm owners or operators, provided they have their main residence on the farm and work there to a significant extent, the Tyrolean Agricultural Chamber said.

Previously, eligible voters included owners, tenants and holders of usufruct rights to agricultural and forestry businesses, as well as their spouses, registered partners, cohabiting partners and children. They must also work at the business to a significant extent.

Brigitte Amort, chair of the Green Farmers and Farmers’ Wives group, criticised the expansion, saying it would increase the ÖVP-dominated electorate. The Greens also questioned whether some older farmers listed as voters actively work on their farms.

Amort said several people in her home municipality of Tristach, in the Lienz district, appeared on the voter register against their wishes. They included children of farm owners who, she said, had no involvement in their parents’ agricultural businesses.