electionstracker

Austria 1956 legislative election

What was the result of the 1956 legislative election in Austria?

Austrian People's Party won 82 of 165 seats with 46.0% of the vote. 96.0% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Austria
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Austrian People's Party won 82 of 165 seats with 46.0% of the vote; 96.0% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 0.1 points on 1953.

  • Austrian People's Party 82 +8 seats 46.0% +4.7 points
  • Social Democratic Party of Austria 74 +1 seat 43.0% +0.9 points
  • Freedom Party of Austria 6 −8 seats 6.5% −4.4 points
  • Communist Party of Austria 3 −1 seat 4.4% −0.9 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Austria 1953 legislative election, party by party.

83 of 165 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 46.0%

    Share of the vote won by Austrian People's Party

    Austrian People's Party won 82 of 165 seats. A majority needs 83.

  2. +8 seats

    Seats gained by Austrian People's Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1953. Freedom Party of Austria lost 8 seats.

  3. 96.0%

    Voter turnout

    Up 0.1 points on 1953.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Austrian People's Party82+846.0+4.71,999,986
Social Democratic Party of Austria74+143.0+0.91,873,295
Freedom Party of Austria6−86.5−4.4283,749
Communist Party of Austria3−14.4−0.9192,438
Largest party without seats000.0−0.11,812

± is the change against the Austria 1953 legislative election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Austrian People's Party 1,999,986
  • Social Democratic Party of Austria 1,873,295
  • Freedom Party of Austria 283,749
  • Communist Party of Austria 192,438
  • Largest party without seats 1,812

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

96.0% of the 4,614,464 registered voters cast a ballot (4,427,711 ballots), up 0.1 points on 1953. 4,351,908 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Austrian People's Party46.0% of votes49.7% of seats
  • Social Democratic Party of Austria43.0% of votes44.8% of seats
  • Freedom Party of Austria6.5% of votes3.6% of seats
  • Communist Party of Austria4.4% of votes1.8% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 4.0 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.5 by votes and 2.2 by seats; Austrian People's Party led Social Democratic Party of Austria by 3.0 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of