Austria's Socialists in the Trend Toward a Two-Party System: an Interpretation of Postwar Elections

Abstract

eral President, took over the executive offices in the Hofburg of Vienna, he was succeeding his friends and mentors Karl Renner and Theodor Koerner. Thus the Socialist party of Austria (SPOe) has retained the Presidency since the first elections, November, 1945, in the Second Republic. In one of the four parliamentary elections it secured the largest number of popular votes, but failed by one seat to gain the greatest bloc in the Nationalrat (lower house of parliament). Its chief opponent, the Austrian People's party (OeVP), has thrice attained the most popular votes in a Nationalrat election, has consistently held the largest number of seats, once had an absolute majority of them, and currently lacks only one of that majority. An over-all view of the six appeals to the electorate four general and two1 (Koerner and Schaerf) presidential elections supports the proposition that Austria is moving, slowly and hesitantly, toward a two-party system.2 To prevent misunderstanding, I emphasize that I see the development as only a trend or long-term drift. As will be shown, there have been countercurrents that for a time appeared to presage a threeor multi-party system. The election of 1951, when Koerner became the first popularly selected President, foreshadowed the re-emergence of forces favorable to a two-party pattern. They came into sharper focus in the Nationalrat election of 1956 and the presidential contest of 1957. From the beginning of the