1979 Austrian legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 6 May 1979.^[1] The Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in government, and its third as a majority government, winning 95 of 183 seats. Voter turnout was 92.2%.^[2] As of the 2024 election, the Socialist Party's result is the most seats that an Austrian party has won in a free election, as well as the last time that an Austrian political party has won an outright majority at the federal level.

1979 Austrian legislative election

← 1975 6 May 1979 1983 →
All 183 seats in the National Council 92 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Bruno Kreisky Josef Taus Alexander Götz Party SPÖ ÖVP FPÖ Last election 50.42%, 93 seats 42.95%, 80 seats, 5.41%, 10 seats, 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 pp 1.05 pp 0.65 pp
Results by state
Chancellor before election Bruno Kreisky SPÖ Elected Chancellor Bruno Kreisky SPÖ

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Social Democratic Party of Austria	2,413,226	51.03	95	+2
	Austrian People's Party	1,981,739	41.90	77	–3
	Freedom Party of Austria	286,743	6.06	11	+1
	Communist Party of Austria	45,280	0.96	0	0
	Christian Social Labour Group	2,263	0.05	0	New
Total		4,729,251	100.00	183	0
Valid votes		4,729,251	98.85
Invalid/blank votes		54,922	1.15
Total votes		4,784,173	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		5,186,735	92.24
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Results by state

State	SPÖ	ÖVP	FPÖ	KPÖ	CSA
Burgenland	52.9	43.9	2.7	0.4	-
Carinthia	56.2	32.6	10.0	1.1	-
Lower Austria	48.4	47.3	3.6	0.7	-
Upper Austria	50.3	41.8	7.2	0.7	-
Salzburg	44.9	43.0	11.4	0.6	-
Styria	51.4	41.4	6.1	1.1	-
Tyrol	37.7	55.4	5.7	0.6	0.7
Vorarlberg	33.4	54.9	10.7	0.9	-
Vienna	60.6	33.2	4.7	1.5	-
Austria	51.0	41.9	6.1	1.0	0.1
Source: Institute for Social Research and Consulting (SORA)[3]