electionstracker

Austria 1959 legislative election

What was the result of the 1959 legislative election in Austria?

Austrian People's Party won 79 of 165 seats with 44.2% of the vote. 94.2% 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 79 of 165 seats with 44.2% of the vote; 94.2% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 1.7 points on 1956.

  • Social Democratic Party of Austria 78 +4 seats 44.8% +1.8 points
  • Austrian People's Party 79 −3 seats 44.2% −1.8 points
  • Freedom Party of Austria 8 +2 seats 7.7% +1.2 points
  • Communist Party of Austria 0 −3 seats 3.3% −1.1 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 1956 legislative election, party by party.

83 of 165 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 44.2%

    Share of the vote won by Austrian People's Party

    Austrian People's Party won 79 of 165 seats. A majority needs 83.

  2. +4 seats

    Seats gained by Social Democratic Party of Austria

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1956. Austrian People's Party lost 3 seats.

  3. 94.2%

    Voter turnout

    Down 1.7 points on 1956.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Social Democratic Party of Austria78+444.8+1.81,953,935
Austrian People's Party79−344.2−1.81,928,043
Freedom Party of Austria8+27.7+1.2336,110
Communist Party of Austria0−33.3−1.1142,578

± is the change against the Austria 1956 legislative election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Social Democratic Party of Austria 1,953,935
  • Austrian People's Party 1,928,043
  • Freedom Party of Austria 336,110
  • Communist Party of Austria 142,578

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?

94.2% of the 4,696,603 registered voters cast a ballot (4,424,658 ballots), down 1.7 points on 1956. 4,362,856 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout of this kind in our data, which begins in 1945.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Austrian People's Party44.2% of votes47.9% of seats
  • Social Democratic Party of Austria44.8% of votes47.3% of seats
  • Freedom Party of Austria7.7% of votes4.8% of seats
  • Communist Party of Austria3.3% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 4.4 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.5 by votes and 2.2 by seats; Social Democratic Party of Austria led Austrian People's Party by 0.6 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of