1959 Austrian legislative election

1959 Austrian legislative election

10 May 1959
All 165 seats in the National Council 83 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Julius Raab Bruno Pittermann Friedrich Peter Party ÖVP SPÖ FPÖ Last election 45.96%, 82 seats 43.05%, 74 seats 6.52%, 6 seats Seats won 79 78 8 Seat change 3 4 2 Popular vote 1,928,043 1,953,935 336,110 Percentage 44.19% 44.79% 7.70% Swing 1.77pp 1.74pp 1.18pp
Results by constituency
Chancellor before election Julius Raab ÖVP Elected Chancellor Julius Raab ÖVP

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 10 May 1959.^[1] Although the Socialist Party (SPÖ) received the most votes, the Austrian People's Party won one more seat than the SPÖ. The Communist Party of Austria lost its remaining three seats and has not returned to the National Council since. Voter turnout was 94%.^[2][3] 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.^[4]

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Socialist Party of Austria	1,953,935	44.79	78	+4
	Austrian People's Party	1,928,043	44.19	79	–3
	Freedom Party of Austria	336,110	7.70	8	+2
	Communists and Left Socialists	142,578	3.27	0	–3
	League of Democratic Socialists	2,190	0.05	0	New
Total		4,362,856	100.00	165	0
Valid votes		4,362,856	98.60
Invalid/blank votes		61,802	1.40
Total votes		4,424,658	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,696,603	94.21
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Results by state

State	SPÖ	ÖVP	FPÖ	KLS	BDS
Burgenland	46.5	47.3	5.0	1.2	-
Carinthia	50.5	32.7	13.5	2.5	0.8
Lower Austria	42.1	50.6	4.3	2.9	-
Upper Austria	42.0	47.3	8.7	2.0	-
Salzburg	38.7	44.2	15.2	1.9	-
Styria	45.3	44.7	6.8	3.1	-
Tyrol	31.5	59.4	7.9	1.2	-
Vorarlberg	30.1	56.4	12.1	1	-
Vienna	52.4	34.4	7.4	5.8	-
Austria	44.8	44.2	7.7	3.3	0.1
Source: Institute for Social Research and Consulting (SORA)[5]

References

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
3. Engelmann, Frederick C. (1962). "Haggling for the Equilibrium: The Renegotiation of the Austrian Coalition, 1959". American Political Science Review. 56 (3): 651–662. doi:10.2307/1952497. ISSN 1537-5943.
4. Kitzinger, Uwe (1961). "The Austrian Election of 1959". Political Studies. 9 (2): 119–140. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.1961.tb00824.x. ISSN 0032-3217.
5. "National election results Austria 1919 - 2017 (OA edition)", Institute for Social Research and Consulting (SORA) (in German), Austrian Social Science Data Archive (AUSSDA), 2019-07-24, doi:10.11587/EQUDAL