1979 Austrian legislative election

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, as well as the last time that an Austrian party has won an outright majority.

1979 Austrian legislative election

6 May 1979
183 seats in the National Council of Austria 92 seats needed for a majority
Leader Bruno Kreisky Josef Taus Alexander Götz Party SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ Leader since 1967 1975 1978 Last election 93 seats, 50.42% 80 seats, 42.95% 10 seats, 5.41% Seats won 95 77 11 Seat change 2 3 1 Popular vote 2,413,226 1,981,739 286,789 Percentage 51.03% 41.90% 6.06% Swing 0.61% 1.05% 0.65%
Chancellor before election Bruno Kreisky SPÖ Elected Chancellor Bruno Kreisky SPÖ

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%

References

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