1907 Cisleithanian Imperial Council election

← 1901 14 & 23 May 1907 1911 →
All 516 seats in the Imperial Council 259 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	4,676,350 (84.60%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Karl Lueger Victor Adler Party CS SDAP DKP Alliance Christian Social Union Club of German Social Democrats Christian Social Union Leader since 1893 1 January 1889 Last election 25 seats, 27.45% 12 seats, 23.39% 28 seats, 0.80% Seats won 65 50 31 Seat change 40 38 3 Popular vote 542,505 513,219 193,753 Percentage 11.73% 11.12% 4.20% Swing 15.72% 12.27% 3.40%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Otto Steinwender Josef Žďárský Antonín Němec Party DVP RSZML ČSSD Alliance German National Association Club of Bohemian Agrarians Club of Bohemian Social Democrats Leader since 1896 1905 1904 Last election 51 seats, 6.56% 2 seats, 0.09% Stood With SDAP Seats won 29 27 23 Seat change 22 25 New Popular vote 131,474 206,784 389,960 Percentage 2.85% 4.48% 8.45% Swing 3.71% 4.39% 8.45%
Minister-President of Cisleithania before election Max Wladimir von Beck Independent Elected Minister-President of Cisleithania Max Wladimir von Beck Independent

Politics of Austria-Hungary
Compromise of 1867
Government Dual Monarchy Foreign Ministry Foreign Minister Foreign Service Foreign Diplomacy
Cisleithania Emperor of Austria (List) Crown of Saint Wenceslas Imperial Council House of Lords House of Representatives Minister-President
Transleithania King of Hungary (List) Crown of Saint Stephen Royal Diet House of Magnates House of Representatives Prime Minister
Subdivisions Cisleithania Austria above the Enns Austria below the Enns Bohemia Bukovina Carinthia Carniola Cracow Dalmatia Galicia and Lodomeria Gorizia and Gradisca Istria Moravia Salzburg Silesia Styria Trieste Tyrol Vorarlberg Transleithania Croatia (until 1868) Croatia-Slavonia (from 1868) Fiume Hungary Slavonia (until 1868) Military Frontier (until 1882) Condominium Bosnia and Herzegovina
Related Settlement of 1868 Treaty of Berlin Bosnian Crisis Treaty of Saint-Germain Treaty of Trianon United States of Greater Austria
Other countries
v t e

Legislative elections were held in Cisleithania, the northern and western ("Austrian") crown lands of Austria-Hungary, on 14 and 23 May 1907 to elect the members of the 11th Imperial Council.^[1][2] They were the first elections held under universal male suffrage, after an electoral reform abolishing tax paying requirements for voters had been adopted by the Council and was endorsed by Emperor Franz Joseph earlier in the year.^[3][4] However, seat allocations were based on tax revenues from the States.^[3]

Electoral system

Under the shadow of the Russian Revolution of 1905 and large-scale demonstrations organized by the Social Democrats, the emperor to placate the public had a reform of the former five-class suffrage system, drafted by Minister-President Paul Gautsch von Frankenthurn. His successor, Baron Max Wladimir von Beck, pushed it through against fierce resistance from the Austrian House of Lords and the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Elections in the constituencies of "the Kingdoms and Lands represented in the Imperial Council" were held according to a two-round system. If no candidate received the required absolute majority on May 14, only the two candidates receiving the most votes survived to the second round. on May 23. The 516 representatives of the constituent crown lands were thus elected, 130 from Bohemia, 106 from Galicia, 64 from Lower Austria and 49 from Moravia. The numerous political associations were again split according to ethnicity ("nations"), with a result that no government could ever rely on a stable majority.

Results

The right-wing Christian Social Party emerged as the largest bloc in Parliament, holding 95 of the 516 seats, followed by the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria with 50 seats. The former won most rural constituencies in Upper and Lower Austria, Styria, Salzburg, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg). It also achieved the majority in the capital, Vienna, benefiting from the popularity of the Christian Social mayor, Karl Lueger. In the German constituencies of Bohemia and Moravia and in Carinthia, the German national parties (German People's Party etc.) did well. The Social Democrats had their strongholds in the cities other than Vienna: Graz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Brno and Linz.

Voter turnout was 84.6%.^[5]

By parliamentary grouping