Austrian legislative election, 1945

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The elections to the Austrian National Council held in fall of 1945 were the first after World War II. Surprisingly, the KPÖ only gained four seats, even though it was strongly supported by the Soviet Union, which had its troops in the east of the country. The reasons for this may have been the fact that communism did not have a strong tradition going back to Austria's First Republic (1918-1934), and the conduct of the Red Army within Austria (including many rapes of Austrian women). It was an equally big surprise that the ÖVP led by Leopold Figl gained an absolute majority. All of the three parties continued their coalition government. However, the KPÖ, which had been equally represented in the Renner government since the end of the war, was assigned only one ministerial post.

Leopold Figl.
Leopold Figl.
Summary of the 25 November 1945 National Council of Austria election resultsedit
Parties Votes +/- % +/- Seats +/-
Austrian People's Party
(Österreichische Volkspartei)
1,602,227 49.8 85
Social Democratic Party of Austria
(Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs)
1,434,898 44.6 76
Communist Party of Austria
(Kommunistische Partei Österreichs)
174,257 5.4 4
Democratic Party of Austria
(Demokratische Partei Österreichs)
5,972 0.2 0
Total (turnout 94%) 3,217,354 100.0 165
Notes:
Source: Berger, Peter (August 1950). "Elections and Parties in Austria". Journal of Politics 12 (3): 511-529.