1951 Austrian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Austria in 1951, the first time that the President of Austria had been elected by popular vote. A first round of voting was held on 6 May, and with no candidate achieving a majority of the votes, a second round was held on 27 May between the top two candidates, Mayor of Vienna, Theodor Körner representing the Socialist Party's, and Upper Austria Governor Heinrich Gleißner of the Austrian People's Party. Although Gleißner received the most votes in the first round Körner won the runoff with 52% of the vote.[1]

1951 Austrian presidential election
6 May 1951 (first round)
27 May 1951 (second round)
 
Nominee Theodor Körner Heinrich Gleißner
Party SPÖ ÖVP
Home state Vienna Upper Austria
Popular vote 2,178,631 2,006,322
Percentage 52.06% 47.94%
President before election

Leopold Figl (Acting)
ÖVP

 Elected President

Theodor Körner
SPÖ

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Background

A constitutional amendment in 1929 would have seen the president being elected directly, but a planned election in 1931 was cancelled and the president was instead elected by Parliament as a public vote was deemed too expensive.[2] After the suspension of the constitution in 1934,[3] and Austria ceasing to exist in 1938, the first presidential elections by popular vote were to be held in 1945. However, because the Allied council did not approve on the constitutional law passed by the National Council, the election was again held by the Federal Assembly.[4]

Results
CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Heinrich GleißnerAustrian People's Party1,725,45140.142,006,32247.94
Theodor KörnerSocialist Party of Austria1,682,88139.152,178,63152.06
Burghard BreitnerFederation of Independents662,50115.41
Gottlieb FialaCommunist Party of Austria219,9695.12
Johannes UdeIndependent5,4130.13
Ludovica HainischIndependent2,1320.05
Total4,298,347100.004,184,953100.00
Valid votes4,298,34798.354,184,95395.70
Invalid/blank votes72,2271.65188,2414.30
Total votes4,370,574100.004,373,194100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,513,59796.834,513,59796.89
Source: Ministry of the Interior

References
  1. AUSTRIA: New President TIME, 4 June 1951
  2. AUSTRIA: Economy TIME, 19 October 1931
  3. Austria Library of Congress Country Studies
  4. Presidential Elections Ministry of the Interior
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