President of Austria

The **President of Austria** is the federal head of state of Austria. Even though the constitution says the President has a lot of power, in practice the President is mostly a figurehead. The President of Austria is elected once in every six years. His or her offices are in the Leopoldine Wing of the Hofburg Imperial Palace, in Vienna.

Many former Presidents have had a lot of popularity while in office.  No incumbent has ever lost a bid for re-election. Since 2017 the President has been Alexander Van der Bellen.

This is a **list of Presidents of Austria** since the establishment of that office in 1919.

## List of officeholders (1919–present)

||President||Portrait|colspan="2"|Term of office||Party||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Karl Seitz||5 March 1919|_21 October 1919_|Social Democratic Workers' Party|||||
|Karl Seitz||_21 October 1919_|9 December 1920|Social Democratic Workers' Party|||||
|rowspan="2"|Michael Hainisch|rowspan="2"||9 December 1920|9 December 1924|rowspan="2"|Non-partisan||
|9 December 1924|10 December 1928||||||||
|rowspan="2"|Wilhelm Miklas|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|10 December 1928|rowspan="2"|_1 May 1934_|Christian Social Party|
|Fatherland Front|||||||||
|rowspan="2"|Wilhelm Miklas|rowspan="2"||_1 May 1934_|10 December 1934|rowspan="2"|Fatherland Front||
|10 December 1934|13 March 1938||||||||
|Arthur Seyss-Inquart||colspan="2"|13 March 1938|National Socialist German Workers' Party|||||
|colspan="5"|_Austria annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938. Independence restored in 1945._||||||||
|Karl Renner||20 December 1945|31 December 1950|Socialist Party|||||
|Leopold Figl||31 December 1950|21 June 1951|Austrian People's Party|||||
|Theodor Körner||21 June 1951|4 January 1957|Socialist Party|||||
|Julius Raab||4 January 1957|22 May 1957|Austrian People's Party|||||
|rowspan="2"|Adolf Schärf|rowspan="2"||22 May 1957|22 May 1963|rowspan="2"|Socialist Party||
|22 May 1963|28 February 1965||||||||
|Josef Klaus||28 February 1965|9 June 1965|Austrian People's Party|||||
|rowspan="2"|Franz Jonas|rowspan="2"||9 June 1965|9 June 1971|rowspan="2"|Socialist Party||
|9 June 1971|24 April 1974||||||||
|Bruno Kreisky||24 April 1974|8 July 1974|Socialist Party|||||
|rowspan="2"|Rudolf Kirchschläger|rowspan="2"||8 July 1974|8 July 1980|rowspan="2"|Non-partisan||
|8 July 1980|8 July 1986||||||||
|Kurt Waldheim||8 July 1986|8 July 1992|Austrian People's Party|||||
|rowspan="2"|Thomas Klestil|rowspan="2"||8 July 1992|8 July 1998|rowspan="2"|Austrian People's Party||
|8 July 1998|6 July 2004||||||||
|Andreas Khol||rowspan="3"|6 July 2004|rowspan="3"|8 July 2004|Austrian People's Party|||
|Barbara Prammer||Social Democratic Party|||||||
|Thomas Prinzhorn||Freedom Party of Austria|||||||
|rowspan=2|Heinz Fischer|rowspan=2||8 July 2004|8 July 2010|rowspan=2|Social Democratic Party||
|8 July 2010|8 July 2016||||||||
|Doris Bures||rowspan=3|8 July 2016|rowspan=3|26 January 2017|Social Democratic Party|||
|Karlheinz Kopf||Austrian People's Party|||||||
|Norbert Hofer||Freedom Party of Austria|||||||
|Alexander Van der Bellen||26 January 2017|Incumbent|None|||||

## List of presidents

- Karl Seitz (10 November 1920 - 9 December 1920)
- Michael Hainisch (9 December 1920 - 10 December 1928)
- Wilhelm Miklas (10 December 1920 - 12 March 1938)
- _Anschluss (1938-1945)_
- Karl Renner (20 December 1945 - 31 December 1950†)
- Leopold Figl (31 December 1950 - 21 June 1951; Acting)
- Theodor Körner (21 June 1951 - 4 January 1957†)
- Julius Raab (4 January 1957 - 22 May 1957; Acting)
- Adolf Schärf (22 May 1957 - 28 February 1965†)
- Josef Klaus (28 February 1965 - 9 June 1965; Acting)
- Franz Jonas (9 June 1965 - 24 April 1974†)
- Bruno Kreisky (24 April 1974 - 8 July 1974; Acting)
- Rudolf Kirchschläger (8 July 1974 - 8 July 1986)
- Kurt Waldheim (8 July 1986 - 8 July 1992)
- Thomas Klestil (8 July 1992 - 6 July 2004†)
- Andreas Khol (6 July 2004 - 8 July 2004; Acting)
- Heinz Fischer (8 July 2004 - 26 January 2017)
- Alexander Van der Bellen (26 January 2017 - present)

## Infobox (political post)

- **post**: Federal President
- **body**: Austria
- **insignia**: Flag of Austria (state).svg
- **insigniasize**: 150px
- **image**: Alexander Van der Bellen 2016 (cropped).jpg
- **incumbent**: Alexander Van der Bellen
- **incumbentsince**: 26 January 2017
- **residence**: Hofburg Imperial Palace
- **termlength**: Six years
(renewable once;
terms may be consecutive)
- **formation**: 5 March 1919
20 December 1945
- **inaugural**: Karl Seitz
Karl Renner
- **website**: [http://www.hofburg.at/ www.hofburg.at]