Early parliamentary elections were held in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on 10 October 1971, following electoral reforms intended to benefit smaller parties. The number of seats in the National Council was increased from 165 to 183, and the proportionality of the seat distribution was increased as well. The

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

, which had governed as a minority government since

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

, won 93 of the 183 seats, a majority of two. Voter turnout was 92.4%.Nohlen & Stöver, p215 It was the first time that the Socialists had won an absolute majority at an election. They also won just over half of the vote, something no Austrian party had previously achieved in a free election. Socialist leader

Bruno Kreisky Bruno Kreisky (; 22 January 1911 – 29 July 1990) was an Austrian social democratic politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldes ...

remained Chancellor.

Results

References

Elections in Austria

Legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

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