Austrian legislative election, 1959

Austrian legislative election, 1959
165 seats in the National Council of Austria ; 83 seats needed for a majority
Chancellor before election; Julius Raab ; ÖVP	Elected Chancellor; Julius Raab ; ÖVP

Last updated March 12, 2019

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 10 May 1959.^[1] Although the Social Democratic Party received the most votes, the Austrian People's Party retained a bare one-seat plurality. The Communist Party of Austria lost its remaining three seats and has not returned to the National Council since. Voter turnout was 94.2%.^[2] The grand coalition that had governed the country since 1945 remained in office, with People's Party leader Julius Raab as Chancellor and Socialist leader Bruno Pittermann as Vice-Chancellor.

Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in Central Europe comprising 9 federated states. Its capital, largest city and one of nine states is Vienna. Austria has an area of 83,879 km² (32,386 sq mi), a population of nearly 9 million people and a nominal GDP of $477 billion. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The terrain is highly mountainous, lying within the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 m (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 m (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other regional languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene.

The Social Democratic Party of Austria is a social-democratic political party in Austria and alongside with the People's Party one of the country's two traditional major parties.

The Austrian People's Party is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was founded immediately following the reestablishment of the Republic of Austria in 1945 and since then has been one of the two largest Austrian political parties with the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). In federal governance, the ÖVP has spent most of the postwar era in a grand coalition with the SPÖ. Most recently, it has been junior partner in a coalition government with the SPÖ since 2007. However, the ÖVP won the 2017 election, having the greatest number of seats and formed a coalition with the national-conservative Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). Its chairman Sebastian Kurz is the youngest Chancellor in Austrian history.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Socialist Party of Austria	1,953,935	44.8	78	+4
Austrian People's Party	1,928,043	44.2	79	–3
Freedom Party of Austria	336,110	7.7	8	+2
Communists and Left Socialists	142,578	3.3	0	–3
League of Democratic Socialists	2,190	0.1	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	61,802	–	–	–
Total	4,424,658	100	165	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular vote

SPÖ			44.78%
ÖVP			44.19%
FPÖ			7.70%
KuL			3.27%
BDS			0.05%

Parliamentary seats

ÖVP			47.88%
SPÖ			47.27%
FPÖ			4.85%

Related Research Articles

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 25 May 1977. The Labour Party remained the largest party, winning 53 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. Following the election, it took 208 days of negotiations to form a new government. This was a European record for longest government formation that stood until after the 2010 Belgian general election. The Christian Democratic Appeal was formed by the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP), Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the Catholic People's Party (KVP) in 1976. The first joint party leader was a member of the KVP, Dries van Agt.

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 3 October 1999.

The Landbund was an Austrian political party during the period of the First Republic (1918–1934).

Early parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 23 November 1986. They were called by Chancellor Franz Vranitzky of the Socialist Party (SPÖ), as he was not prepared to continue the coalition government with new Freedom Party leader Jörg Haider, who had ousted Norbert Steger at the party convention.

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 24 April 1983. The result was a victory for the Socialist Party, which won 90 of the 183 seats. However, the Socialists lost the outright majority they had held since 1971, prompting Bruno Kreisky to stand down as SPÖ leader and Chancellor in favour of Fred Sinowatz. The SPÖ stayed in office by entering into a coalition government with the Freedom Party of Austria, which at this point was a liberal party. Voter turnout was 92.6%.

1971 Austrian legislative election election in Austria which resulted in the winning of the Socialist Party

Early parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 10 October 1971, following electoral reforms which increased the number of seats in the National Council from 165 to 183 and increased the proportionality of the seat distribution. The result was a victory for the Socialist Party, which won 93 of the 183 seats, an absolute majority. Voter turnout was 92.4%. Socialist leader Bruno Kreisky remained Chancellor.

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 1 March 1970. The result was a victory for the Socialist Party, which won 81 of the 165 seats to become the largest party for the first time in the Second Republic, only two seats short of a majority. Bruno Kreisky of the Social Democrats became Chancellor at the head of a minority government that was tolerated by the Freedom Party of Austria in return for electoral reform that favoured smaller parties. Voter turnout was 91.8%. It was the first Socialist-led government since 1920, and the first purely left-wing government in Austrian history.

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 6 March 1966. The result was a victory for the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), which won 85 of the 165 seats. Voter turnout was 93.8%. With an outright majority of three seats, the ÖVP could govern alone. Nonetheless, ÖVP leader and Chancellor Josef Klaus initially sought to continue the grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) that had governed since 1945. When talks for a renewed coalition failed, Klaus formed an exclusively ÖVP cabinet, the first one-party government of the Second Republic. It was also the first purely centre-right government in Austria since before World War II.

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 18 November 1962. The result was a victory for the Austrian People's Party, which won 81 of the 165 seats. Voter turnout was 93.8%. Although the People's Party had come up only two seats short of an outright majority, Chancellor Alfons Gorbach retained the grand coalition with the Socialists under Vice-Chancellor Bruno Pittermann.

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 13 May 1956. The result was a victory for the Austrian People's Party, which won 82 of the 165 seats in the National Council. Voter turnout was 96.0%. Although the ÖVP had come up one seat short of an absolute majority, ÖVP leader and Chancellor Julius Raab retained the grand coalition with the Socialists, with the SPÖ leader Adolf Schärf as Vice-Chancellor.

Federal elections were held in Germany on 20 May 1928. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) remained the largest party in the Reichstag after winning 153 of the 491 seats. Voter turnout was 75.6%.

The Democratic Party is a center-right party in Bulgaria led by Alexander Pramatarski. The party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).

Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 12 and 13 September 1965. The Labour Party remained the largest party, winning 68 of the 150 seats. However, the four non-socialist parties succeeded in winning a majority between them and forming a government. Per Borten, the leader of the Centre Party, became Prime Minister.

General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 1948. Despite a campaign by a large part of the Swedish press against socializing insurances, controlled foreign trade and rationing regulations still in use since the war, freshman Prime Minister and Social Democratic leader Tage Erlander managed to defeat the People's Party-led opposition under Bertil Ohlin by a higher election turnout. He maintained his government with only minor losses and the Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party, winning 112 of the 230 seats in the Second Chamber of the Riksdag. Erlander was later to stay on as Prime Minister until 1969, in 1951-1957 his government included the party Farmers' League.

General elections were held in Sweden on 16 September 1979. Although the Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party, winning 154 of the 349 seats in the Riksdag, the liberal interim government of Ola Ullsten was succeeded by another centre-right coalition government composed of the People's Party, the Moderate Party and the Centre Party, led by Centre Party leader Thorbjörn Fälldin. The three parties together won 175 seats, compared to the 174 won by the Social Democrats and Communists. It was the only time that non-socialist parties retained power in an election between 1928 and 2010. The Moderates dramatically increased their representation in the Riksdag, becoming the largest party of the non-socialist bloc, a position they have maintained ever since.

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 9 November 1930. The Social Democratic Party emerged as the largest faction in the National Council, with 72 of the 165 seats. Voter turnout was 90.2%.

The German People's Party was a German nationalist political party in Austria.

The Progressive Liberal Party was a political party in Bulgaria.

The Liberal Party, also known as the Radoslavists was a political party in Bulgaria from 1887 until 1920.

The United People's Progressive Party was a political party in Bulgaria.

References

↑ Nohlen, Dieter; Stöver, Philip (31 May 2010). Elections in Europe: A data handbook. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 196. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7.
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p214

This article about politics in Austria is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Nohlen, Dieter; Stöver, Philip (31 May 2010). Elections in Europe: A data handbook. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 196. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7.

[2] Nohlen & Stöver, p214