List of chancellors of Austria

Clockwise from top left:

• Renner was the first Chancellor of German-Austria, the First Republic and the Second Republic
• Dollfuss turned the First Republic into a dictatorship and is a key figure in fascism
• Kurz is currently the youngest head of government in the world
• Kreisky is known as one of the world's perhaps most successful socialist leaders

The chancellor of Austria is the head of government of the Austrian Republic, appointed by the president and regarded as the country's de facto chief executive. The chancellor chairs and leads the Cabinet, which also includes the vice chancellor and the ministers.^[1]

Following World War I, the office was originally established by the Provisional National Assembly on 30 October 1918 as state chancellor of the Republic of German-Austria, and its first holder, Karl Renner, was appointed by the State Council. After the Allies declined a union between Austria and Germany,^[2] German-Austria established the First Austrian Republic and soon afterwards renamed the office from state chancellor to federal chancellor – the first federal chancellor was Michael Mayr. Ten chancellors served under the First Republic up until Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss established the authoritarian and dictatorial Federal State of Austria.^[3] Following Dollfuss's Assassination by Austrian National Socialists,^[4] Kurt Schuschnigg succeeded him as chancellor and upheld the dictatorship.^[5] Schuschnigg in turn was replaced by Arthur Seyss-Inquart, a Nazi caretaker who held the office for two days, until Austria was annexed into Nazi Germany.^[6]

Austria under National Socialism lost its original, republican system of government and was administered by Reichsstatthalter Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1938–1939), Reich Commissioner Josef Bürckel^[7] (1939–1940) and Reichsstatthalter Baldur von Schirach^[8] (1940–1945). In 1940, the country was renamed Ostmark, completely lost its autonomy and became an administrative division of Nazi Germany.^[9][10] After the liberation of Vienna and the dissolution of Nazi Germany, Austria reinstated its republican form of government.^[11] However, the country remained under allied occupation until 1955^[12] and thus the country's ultimate sovereignty was still held by the Allied Control Council.

Since the establishment of the republic, the People's and the Social Democratic Party have largely dominated Austrian politics. The People's Party/Christian Social Party led nineteen cabinets and was the second largest party in eight coalition cabinets, the Social Democratic Party/Social Democratic Workers' Party led eleven cabinets and was the second largest party in five coalition cabinets. The following parties 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 Alliance for the Future and the Communist Party in one.

If the chancellor dies, resigns or is otherwise incapable of exercising the powers and duties of the office, the vice chancellor automatically becomes acting chancellor; that is if the president has not already found a permanent replacement. If the vice chancellor is unavailable, the other members of the government take over in order of seniority.^[13] The unavailability of an elected chancellor does not automatically call for a new election. If the president in turn dies, resigns or is otherwise incapacitated, the chancellor assumes all the powers and duties of the presidency, but only for twenty days.^[14]

Bruno Kreisky was the longest serving chancellor with 4778 days in office and Arthur Seyss-Inquart was the shortest serving chancellor with 2 days in office.

Chancellors[]

	Party	Portrait	Name	Tenure	Election	Governing party or coalition	Appointer
1	SDAPÖ		Dr. Karl Renner 1870–1950 [a][15][16][17]	30 October 1918 – 7 July 1920	1919	• SDAPÖ • CS • GDVP	State Council[b]
2	CS		Dr. Michael Mayr 1864–1922 [c][18]	7 July 1920 – 21 June 1921	1920	• CS • SDAPÖ	Michael Hainisch
3	IND		Iur. DDDr. Johannes Schober 1874–1932 [19]	21 June 1921 – 26 January 1922	–	• CS • GDVP • Experts
4	CS		Walter Breisky 1871–1944 [20]	26 January 1922 – 27 January 1922	–	• CS • GDVP
5	IND		Iur. DDDr. Johannes Schober 1874–1932 [21]	27 January 1922 – 31 May 1922	–	• CS • GDVP • Experts
6	CS		Dr. Ignaz Seipel 1876–1932 [22]	31 May 1922 – 20 November 1924	1923	• CS • GDVP • Experts
7	CS		Dr. Rudolf Ramek 1881–1941 [23]	20 November 1924 – 20 October 1926	–	• CS • GDVP
8	CS		Dr. Ignaz Seipel 1876–1932	20 October 1926 – 4 May 1929	1927	• CS • GDVP • Landbund
9	CS		Ernst Streeruwitz 1874–1952 [24]	4 May 1929 – 26 September 1929	–	• CS • Landbund	Wilhelm Miklas
10	IND		Iur. DDDr. Johannes Schober 1874–1932	26 September 1929 – 30 September 1930	–	• CS
11	CS		Carl Vaugoin 1873–1949 [25]	30 September 1930 – 4 December 1930	–	• CS
12	CS		Dr. Otto Ender 1875–1960 [26]	4 December 1930 – 20 June 1931	1930	• CS
13	CS		Dr. Karl Buresch 1878–1936 [27]	20 June 1931 – 20 May 1932	–	• CS • Landbund
	CS		Dr. Engelbert Dollfuss 1892–1934 [28]	20 May 1932 – 25 July 1934	–	• CS • Landbund • Heimwehr 20 May 1932 – 1 May 1934 • VF 1 May 1934 – 25 July 1934
14	VF
15	VF		Dr. Kurt Schuschnigg 1897–1977 [29]	25 July 1934 – 29 July 1934	–	• VF
				29 July 1934 – 11 March 1938
16	NSDAP		Dr. Arthur Seyss-Inquart 1892–1946 [30]	11 March 1938 – 13 March 1938	–	• NSDAP
Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 12 March 1938 to 13 April 1945
17	SPÖ		Dr. Karl Renner 1870–1950 [31][32][33]	27 April 1945 – 20 December 1945	–	• SPÖ • ÖVP • KPÖ	[d]
18	ÖVP		Dipl.-Ing. DDDr. Leopold Figl 1902–1965 [34]	20 December 1945 – 2 April 1953	1945	• ÖVP • SPÖ	Karl Renner
					1949
19	ÖVP		Ing. DDDr. Julius Raab 1891–1964 [35]	2 April 1953 – 11 April 1961	1953	• ÖVP • SPÖ	Theodor Körner
					1956
					1959
20	ÖVP		Dr. Alfons Gorbach 1898–1972 [36]	11 April 1961 – 2 April 1964	1962	• ÖVP • SPÖ	Adolf Schärf
21	ÖVP		Dr. Josef Klaus 1910–2001 [37]	2 April 1964 – 21 April 1970	–	• ÖVP • SPÖ
					1966	• ÖVP
22	SPÖ		Dr. Bruno Kreisky 1911–1990 [38]	21 April 1970 – 24 May 1983	1970	• SPÖ	Franz Jonas
					1971
					1975
					1979
23	SPÖ		Dr. Fred Sinowatz 1929–2008 [39]	24 May 1983 – 16 June 1986	1983	• SPÖ • FPÖ	Rudolf Kirchschläger
24	SPÖ		Dipl.-Kfm. Dr. Franz Vranitzky born 1937 [40]	16 June 1986 – 28 January 1997	1986	• SPÖ • FPÖ
					1990	• SPÖ • ÖVP
					1994
					1995
25	SPÖ		Mag. Viktor Klima born 1947 [41]	28 January 1997 – 4 February 2000	–	• SPÖ • ÖVP	Thomas Klestil
26	ÖVP		Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel born 1945 [42]	4 February 2000 – 11 January 2007	1999	• ÖVP • FPÖ 4 February 2000 – 3 April 2005 • ÖVP • BZÖ 3 April 2005 – 11 January 2007
					2002
27	SPÖ		Dr. Alfred Gusenbauer born 1960 [43]	11 January 2007 – 2 December 2008	2006	• SPÖ • ÖVP	Heinz Fischer
28	SPÖ		Werner Faymann born 1960 [44]	2 December 2008 – 9 May 2016	2008	• SPÖ • ÖVP
					2013
	ÖVP		Dr. Reinhold Mitterlehner born 1955 [45][46]	9 May 2016 – 17 May 2016	–	• SPÖ • ÖVP
29	SPÖ		Mag. Christian Kern born 1966 [47]	17 May 2016 – 18 December 2017	–	• SPÖ • ÖVP
30	ÖVP		Sebastian Kurz born 1986 [48]	18 December 2017 – 28 May 2019	2017	• ÖVP • FP�� 18 December 2017 – 22 May 2019 • ÖVP 22 May 2019 – 28 May 2019	Alexander Van der Bellen
	ÖVP		Hartwig Löger born 1965 [49][50]	28 May 2019 – 3 June 2019	–	• ÖVP
31	IND		Dr. Brigitte Bierlein born 1949 [51][52]	3 June 2019 �� 7 January 2020	–	Independent
32	ÖVP		Sebastian Kurz born 1986 [53]	7 January 2020 – Present	2019	• ÖVP • Greens

Statistics[]

The median age at which a chancellor first takes office is 50 years and 134 days (the age at which Christian Kern became chancellor). The youngest person to ever assume the office is Sebastian Kurz, who took office at the age of 31 years, 113 days. The oldest person to become chancellor for the first time is Brigitte Bierlein at the age of 69 years, 343 days. Karl Renner served two nonconsecutive terms; at the beginning of his second term he was 74 years, 134 days old.

The oldest living former chancellor is Franz Vranitzky, born 4 October 1937, (aged 83 years, 342 days). The youngest living former chancellor is Christian Kern, born 4 January 1966, (aged 55 years, 250 days). The youngest living chancellor is the incumbent Sebastian Kurz, born 27 August 1986, (aged 35 years, 15 days).

The longest living chancellor was Josef Klaus, who died on 26 July 2001 at the age of 90 years, 345 days. Franz Vranitzky, the oldest living former chancellor, will surpass Klaus if he lives beyond 14 September 2028. The shortest living chancellor was Engelbert Dollfuss, who died in office on 25 July 1934 at the age of 41 years, 294 days.

The chancellor with the longest retirement is Kurt Schuschnigg. He left office on 11 March 1938, and died 39 years, and 252 days later on 18 November 1977.

Living former chancellors[]

There are eight living former Austrian chancellors:

Oldest living chancellors[]

Not all chancellors live to become the oldest of their time. Of the 20 deceased chancellors, 8 eventually became the oldest of their time, while 12 did not. On one occasion the oldest living chancellor lost this distinction not by his death, but due to the appointment of a chancellor who was older. Karl Renner lost this distinction when Michael Mayr was appointed, but when Mayr died in 1922, Renner regained it again until his own death in 1950 for a record total period of 30 years and 110 days. Ernst Streeruwitz became the oldest living chancellor after the death of Karl Renner, but he survived Renner by only 1 year and 293 days.

Otto Ender was the oldest to acquire this distinction at the age of 76 years, and 300 days. Bruno Kreisky, who was 79 years, and 188 days old when he died, on 29 July 1990 was the oldest and most recent chancellor to die without ever acquiring this distinction.

^[55]

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[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website of the Austrian Chancellery
• List of Chancellors since 1945 on the Chancellery website