| Country: | Austria |
| Flag Year: | state |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1962 Austrian legislative election |
| Previous Year: | 1962 |
| Next Election: | 1970 Austrian legislative election |
| Next Year: | 1970 |
| Seats For Election: | 165 seats in the National Council of Austria |
| Majority Seats: | 83 |
| Election Date: | 6 March 1966 |
| Image1: | Josef_Klaus_1964.jpg |
| Leader1: | Josef Klaus |
| Party1: | Austrian People's Party |
| Last Election1: | 45.43%, 81 seats |
| Seats1: | 85 |
| Seat Change1: | 4 |
| Popular Vote1: | 2,191,109 |
| Percentage1: | 48.35% |
| Swing1: | 2.92 pp |
| Leader2: | Bruno Pittermann |
| Party2: | Social Democratic Party of Austria |
| Last Election2: | 44.00%, 76 seats |
| Seats2: | 74 |
| Seat Change2: | 2 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,928,985 |
| Percentage2: | 42.56% |
| Swing2: | 1.44 pp |
| Image3: | 3x4.svg |
| Leader3: | Friedrich Peter |
| Party3: | Freedom Party of Austria |
| Last Election3: | 7.04%, 8 seats |
| Seats3: | 6 |
| Seat Change3: | 2 |
| Popular Vote3: | 242,570 |
| Percentage3: | 5.35% |
| Swing3: | 1.69 pp |
| Chancellor | |
| Before Election: | Josef Klaus |
| Before Party: | Austrian People's Party |
| After Election: | Josef Klaus |
| After Party: | Austrian People's Party |
Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 6 March 1966.[1] The result was a victory for the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), which won 85 of the 165 seats. Voter turnout was 94%.[2]
During the campaign, ÖVP Chancellor Josef Klaus (who had succeeded Alfons Gorbach in 1964) had called for an end to the grand coalition with the Socialist Party of Austria (SPÖ) that had governed since 1945. The election results seemingly left Klaus free to break off the coalition; the ÖVP won an outright majority of three seats, enough to govern alone. However, Klaus reversed himself and proposed a new coalition agreement. The SPÖ leadership supported a renewed coalition, but talks failed when the SPÖ rank and file balked at the proposed coalition terms.[3] Klaus then formed an exclusively ÖVP cabinet, the first one-party government of the Second Republic.[4] It was also the first purely centre-right government in Austria since before World War II.
As of the 2019 elections, this is the only time in the ÖVP's history where it has governed in a majority. The ÖVP had won a majority of seats once before, during the first postwar election in 1945, but opted to lead a grand coalition rather than govern alone.
. Elections in Europe: A data handbook . Nohlen . Dieter . Dieter Nohlen . Stöver . Philip . 31 May 2010 . Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft . 196 . 978-3-8329-5609-7.