List of chancellors of Austria

The chancellor of Austria is the head of government of Austria, appointed by the president and viewed as the country's de facto chief executive. The chancellor chairs and leads the Cabinet, which also includes the vice-chancellor and the ministers.^[2]

Following

Austria under National Socialism lost its original republican system of government and was administered by Reichsstatthalter Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1938–1939), Reichskommissar Josef Bürckel^[8] (1939–1940) and Reichsstatthalter Baldur von Schirach^[9] (1940–1945). In 1940, the country was renamed Ostmark, completely lost its autonomy, and became a sub-national division of Nazi Germany.^[10][11] After the liberation of Vienna and the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945, Austria restored its republican form of government.^[12] However, Austria remained under allied occupation until 1955^[13] and thus the country's sovereignty was ultimately still held by the Allied Control Council.

Since the institution of the republic, the People's Party and the Social Democratic Party have largely dominated Austrian politics; the People's Party (and its predecessor, the Christian Social Party) have led nineteen cabinets and served as a junior partner in eight, while the Social Democratic Party (formerly the Social Democratic Workers' Party) has led eleven and served as a junior partner in five. There have been seven parties that never held the chancellorship but participated in coalition cabinets: the Greater German People's Party in five, the Freedom Party and the Landbund in four, the Fatherland Front in two, and the Greens, the Alliance for the Future and the Communist Party in one.

Following a legislative election or in the case of a vacancy, the president conventionally picks the leader of the largest party in Parliament to serve as chancellor, and appoints the remaining members of the Cabinet based on the chancellor's recommendation. If a sitting chancellor dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to exercise the powers and duties of the office, the vice-chancellor becomes acting chancellor. If the vice-chancellor is unavailable, the other members of the Cabinet take over in order of seniority.^[14]

Bruno Kreisky was the longest-serving chancellor, with more than thirteen years in office, while Arthur Seyss-Inquart was the shortest-serving chancellor, with two days in office, and Walter Breisky was the shortest-serving acting chancellor, with only one day in office.

Chancellors

First Republic (1918–1938)

No.	Party		Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Election	Cabinet coalition	Ref. and notes
1		SDAPÖ		Karl Renner (1870–1950)	30 October 1918	7 July 1920	1 year, 251 days	1919	GDVP	[15][16][17] [a][b]
2		CS		Michael Mayr (1864–1922)	7 July 1920	21 June 1921	349 days	1920	SDAPÖ	[18] [c]
3		IND		Johannes Schober (1874–1932)	21 June 1921	26 January 1922	344 days	–	Schober I • CS • GDVP • Technocrats	[19]
4		CS		Walter Breisky (1871–1944)	26 January 1922	27 January 1922	1 day	–	Breisky • CS • GDVP	[20]
5		IND		Johannes Schober (1874–1932)	27 January 1922	31 May 1922	124 days	–	GDVP • Technocrats	[21]
6		CS		Ignaz Seipel (1876–1932)	31 May 1922	20 November 1924	2 years, 173 days	1923	GDVP • Technocrats	[22]
7		CS		Rudolf Ramek (1881–1941)	20 November 1924	20 October 1926	1 year, 334 days	–	GDVP	[23]
8		CS		Ignaz Seipel (1876–1932)	20 October 1926	4 May 1929	2 years, 196 days	1927	GDVP • LBd	[citation needed]
9		CS		Ernst Streeruwitz (1874–1952)	4 May 1929	26 September 1929	145 days	–	Streeruwitz • CS • LBd	[24]
10		IND		Johannes Schober (1874–1932)	26 September 1929	30 September 1930	1 year, 4 days	–	Schober III • CS	[citation needed]
11		CS		Carl Vaugoin (1873–1949)	30 September 1930	4 December 1930	65 days	–	Vaugoin • CS	[25]
12		CS		Otto Ender (1875–1960)	4 December 1930	20 June 1931	198 days	1930	Ender • CS	[26]
13		CS		Karl Buresch (1878–1936)	20 June 1931	20 May 1932	335 days	–	Buresch I–II • CS • LBd	[27]
14		CS		Engelbert Dollfuss (1892–1934)	20 May 1932	25 July 1934 †	2 years, 66 days	–	Dollfuss I • CS • LBd • Heimwehr 20 May 1932 – 1 May 1934 Dollfuss II • VF 1 May 1934 – 25 July 1934	[28]
		VF
15		VF		Kurt Schuschnigg (1897–1977)	25 July 1934	29 July 1934	4 days	–	Dollfuss II • VF	[29]
					29 July 1934	11 March 1938	3 years, 225 days	–	Schuschnigg I–II–III–IV–V • VF
16		NSDAP		Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1892–1946)	11 March 1938	13 March 1938	2 days	–	NSDAP	[30][31]
17		SPÖ		Karl Renner (1870–1950)	27 April 1945	20 December 1945	237 days	–	KPÖ	[32][33][34] [d]
18		ÖVP		Leopold Figl (1902–1965)	20 December 1945	2 April 1953	7 years, 103 days	1945	SPÖ	[35]
								1949
19		ÖVP		Julius Raab (1891–1964)	2 April 1953	11 April 1961	8 years, 9 days	1953	SPÖ	[36]
								1956
								1959
20		ÖVP		Alfons Gorbach (1898–1972)	11 April 1961	2 April 1964	2 years, 357 days	1962	SPÖ	[37]
21		ÖVP		Josef Klaus (1910–2001)	2 April 1964	21 April 1970	6 years, 19 days	–	SPÖ	[38]
								1966	ÖVP
22		SPÖ		Bruno Kreisky (1911–1990)	21 April 1970	24 May 1983	13 years, 33 days	1970	SPÖ	[39]
								1971
								1975
								1979
23		SPÖ		Fred Sinowatz (1929–2008)	24 May 1983	16 June 1986	3 years, 23 days	1983	FPÖ	[40]
24		SPÖ		Franz Vranitzky (born 1937)	16 June 1986	28 January 1997	10 years, 226 days	1986	FPÖ	[41]
								1990	ÖVP
								1994
								1995
25		SPÖ		Viktor Klima (born 1947)	28 January 1997	4 February 2000	3 years, 7 days	–	ÖVP	[42]
26		ÖVP		Wolfgang Schüssel (born 1945)	4 February 2000	11 January 2007	6 years, 341 days	1999	Schüssel I • ÖVP • FPÖ 4 February 2000 – 3 April 2005 Schüssel II • ÖVP • BZÖ 3 April 2005 – 11 January 2007	[43]
								2002
27		SPÖ		Alfred Gusenbauer (born 1960)	11 January 2007	2 December 2008	1 year, 326 days	2006	Gusenbauer • SPÖ • ÖVP	[44]
28		SPÖ		Werner Faymann (born 1960)	2 December 2008	9 May 2016	7 years, 159 days	2008	Faymann I–II • SPÖ • ÖVP	[45]
								2013
–		ÖVP		Reinhold Mitterlehner (born 1955) ‡	9 May 2016	17 May 2016	8 days	–	Faymann II • SPÖ • ÖVP	[46][47]
29		SPÖ		Christian Kern (born 1966)	17 May 2016	18 December 2017	1 year, 215 days	–	Kern • SPÖ • ÖVP	[48]
30		ÖVP		Sebastian Kurz (born 1986)	18 December 2017	28 May 2019	1 year, 161 days	2017	Kurz I • ÖVP • FPÖ 18 December 2017 – 22 May 2019 • ÖVP 22 May 2019 – 28 May 2019	[49]
–		ÖVP		Hartwig Löger (born 1965) ‡	28 May 2019	3 June 2019	6 days	–	Kurz I • ÖVP	[50][51]
31		IND		Brigitte Bierlein (born 1949)	3 June 2019	7 January 2020	218 days	–	Bierlein • Technocrats	[52][53]
32		ÖVP		Sebastian Kurz (born 1986)	7 January 2020	11 October 2021	1 year, 277 days	2019	Kurz II • ÖVP • Greens	[54]
33		ÖVP		Alexander Schallenberg (born 1969)	11 October 2021	6 December 2021	56 days	–	Schallenberg • ÖVP • Greens	[55]
34		ÖVP		Karl Nehammer (born 1972)	6 December 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 142 days	–	Nehammer • ÖVP • Greens	[56]

Timeline

See also

• History of Austria
• Politics of Austria
• Elections in Austria
• President of Austria
  • List of presidents of Austria
• Vice-Chancellor of Austria
• List of political parties in Austria

Notes