Austrian legislative election, 1979

Austrian legislative election, 1979
183 seats in the National Council of Austria ; 92 seats needed for a majority
Chancellor before election; Bruno Kreisky ; SPÖ	Elected Chancellor; Bruno Kreisky ; SPÖ

Last updated March 12, 2019

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 6 May 1979.^[1] The Socialist Party won a fourth term in government, taking 95 of the 183 seats. Voter turnout was 92.2%.^[2] As of the 2017 elections, this is the most seats that an Austrian party has won in a free election.

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.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Socialist Party of Austria	2,413,226	51.0	95	+2
Austrian People's Party	1,981,739	41.9	77	–3
Freedom Party of Austria	286,743	6.1	11	+1
Communist Party of Austria	45,280	1.0	0	0
Christian Social Labour Group	2,263	0.0	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	54,922	–	–	–
Total	4,784,173	100	183	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Popular vote

SPÖ			51.03%
ÖVP			41.90%
FPÖ			6.06%
KPÖ			0.96%
CSA			0.05%

Parliamentary seats

SPÖ			51.91%
ÖVP			42.08%
FPÖ			6.01%

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References

↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p196 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p215

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[1] Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p196 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

[2] Nohlen & Stöver, p215