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.[1]
Following World War I, the office was established by the Provisional National Assembly on 30 October 1918 and named state chancellor of the Republic of German-Austria, and its first holder, Karl Renner, was appointed by the State Council. After the Allied powers denied German-Austria to merge with the Weimar Republic,[2] the country formed the federal First Austrian Republic and the office was renamed from state chancellor to federal chancellor. The first federal chancellor was Michael Mayr. There have been ten chancellors who served under the First Republic until Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss created 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 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), Reichskommissar 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 a sub-national division of Nazi Germany.[9] [10] After the liberation of Vienna and the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945, Austria restored its republican form of government.[11] However, Austria remained under allied occupation until 1955[12] 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.[13]
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.
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Party | Elected | Cabinet | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | |||||||||
| 1 | Karl Renner | 30 October 1918 | 7 July 1920 | SDAPÖ | 1919 | Renner I–II–III • SDAPÖ • CS • GDVP | [14] [15] [16] | ||||
| 2 | Michael Mayr | 7 July 1920 | 21 June 1921 | CS | 1920 | Mayr I–II • CS • SDAPÖ | [17] | ||||
| 3 | Johannes Schober | 21 June 1921 | 26 January 1922 | IND | – | Schober I • CS • GDVP • Technocrats | [18] | ||||
| 4 | Walter Breisky | 26 January 1922 | 27 January 1922 | CS | – | Breisky • CS • GDVP | [19] | ||||
| (3) | Johannes Schober | 27 January 1922 | 31 May 1922 | IND | – | Schober II • CS • GDVP • Technocrats | [20] | ||||
| 5 | Ignaz Seipel | 31 May 1922 | 20 November 1924 | CS | 1923 | Seipel I–II–III • CS • GDVP • Technocrats | [21] | ||||
| 6 | Rudolf Ramek | 20 November 1924 | 20 October 1926 | CS | – | Ramek I–II • CS • GDVP | [22] | ||||
| (5) | Ignaz Seipel | 20 October 1926 | 4 May 1929 | CS | 1927 | Seipel IV–V • CS • GDVP • LBd | |||||
| 7 | Ernst Streeruwitz | 4 May 1929 | 26 September 1929 | CS | – | Streeruwitz • CS • LBd | [23] | ||||
| (3) | Johannes Schober | 26 September 1929 | 30 September 1930 | IND | – | Schober III • CS | |||||
| 8 | Carl Vaugoin | 30 September 1930 | 4 December 1930 | CS | – | Vaugoin • CS | [24] | ||||
| 9 | Otto Ender | 4 December 1930 | 20 June 1931 | CS | 1930 | Ender • CS | [25] | ||||
| 10 | Karl Buresch | 20 June 1931 | 20 May 1932 | CS | – | Buresch I–II • CS • LBd | [26] | ||||
| 11 | Engelbert Dollfuss | 20 May 1932 | 25 July 1934 † | CS | – | Dollfuss I • CS • LBd • Heimwehr Dollfuss II • VF | [27] | ||||
| VF | |||||||||||
| – | Prince Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg | 25 July 1934 | 29 July 1934 | VF | – | Dollfuss II • VF | [28] | ||||
| 12 | Kurt Schuschnigg | 29 July 1934 | 11 March 1938 | scope=row style="background-color: " | VF | – | Schuschnigg I–II–III–IV–V • VF | [29] | |||
| 13 | Arthur Seyss-Inquart | 11 March 1938 | 13 March 1938 | NSDAP | – | Seyss-Inquart • NSDAP | [30] [31] | ||||
| Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 12 March 1938 to 13 April 1945 | |||||||||||
| (1) | Karl Renner | 27 April 1945 | 20 December 1945 | SPÖ | – | Renner IV • SPÖ • ÖVP • KPÖ | [32] [33] [34] | ||||
| 14 | Leopold Figl | 20 December 1945 | 2 April 1953 | ÖVP | 1945 | Figl I–II–III • ÖVP • SPÖ | [35] | ||||
| 1949 | |||||||||||
| 15 | Julius Raab | 2 April 1953 | 11 April 1961 | ÖVP | 1953 | Raab I–II–III–IV • ÖVP • SPÖ | [36] | ||||
| 1956 | |||||||||||
| 1959 | |||||||||||
| 16 | Alfons Gorbach | 11 April 1961 | 2 April 1964 | ÖVP | 1962 | Gorbach I–II • ÖVP • SPÖ | [37] | ||||
| 17 | Josef Klaus | 2 April 1964 | 21 April 1970 | ÖVP | – | Klaus I • ÖVP • SPÖ | [38] | ||||
| 1966 | Klaus II • ÖVP | ||||||||||
| 18 | Bruno Kreisky | 21 April 1970 | 24 May 1983 | SPÖ | 1970 | Kreisky I–II–III–IV • SPÖ | [39] | ||||
| 1971 | |||||||||||
| 1975 | |||||||||||
| 1979 | |||||||||||
| 19 | Fred Sinowatz | 24 May 1983 | 16 June 1986 | SPÖ | 1983 | Sinowatz • SPÖ • FPÖ | [40] | ||||
| 20 | Franz Vranitzky | 16 June 1986 | 28 January 1997 | SPÖ | 1986 | Vranitzky I–II • SPÖ • FPÖ | [41] | ||||
| 1990 | Vranitzky III–IV–V • SPÖ • ÖVP | ||||||||||
| 1994 | |||||||||||
| 1995 | |||||||||||
| 21 | Viktor Klima | 28 January 1997 | 4 February 2000 | SPÖ | – | Klima • SPÖ • ÖVP | [42] | ||||
| 22 | Wolfgang Schüssel | 4 February 2000 | 11 January 2007 | ÖVP | 1999 | Schüssel I • ÖVP • FPÖ Schüssel II • ÖVP • BZÖ | [43] | ||||
| 2002 | |||||||||||
| 23 | Alfred Gusenbauer | 11 January 2007 | 2 December 2008 | SPÖ | 2006 | Gusenbauer • SPÖ • ÖVP | [44] | ||||
| 24 | Werner Faymann | 2 December 2008 | 9 May 2016 | SPÖ | 2008 | Faymann I–II • SPÖ • ÖVP | [45] | ||||
| 2013 | |||||||||||
| – | Reinhold Mitterlehner | 9 May 2016 | 17 May 2016 | ÖVP | – | Faymann II • SPÖ • ÖVP | [46] [47] | ||||
| 25 | Christian Kern | 17 May 2016 | 18 December 2017 | SPÖ | – | Kern • SPÖ • ÖVP | [48] | ||||
| 26 | Sebastian Kurz | 18 December 2017 | 28 May 2019 | ÖVP | 2017 | Kurz I • ÖVP • FPÖ • ÖVP | [49] | ||||
| – | Hartwig Löger | 28 May 2019 | 3 June 2019 | ÖVP | – | Kurz I • ÖVP | [50] [51] | ||||
| 27 | Brigitte Bierlein | 3 June 2019 | 7 January 2020 | IND | – | Bierlein • Technocrats | [52] [53] | ||||
| (26) | Sebastian Kurz | 7 January 2020 | 11 October 2021 | ÖVP | 2019 | Kurz II • ÖVP • Greens | [54] | ||||
| 28 | Alexander Schallenberg | 11 October 2021 | 6 December 2021 | ÖVP | – | Schallenberg • ÖVP • Greens | [55] | ||||
| 29 | Karl Nehammer | 6 December 2021 | Incumbent | ÖVP | – | Nehammer • ÖVP • Greens | [56] | ||||