[2] The Austrian People's Party, comprising elements of the prewar Christian Social Party under the leadership of Leopold Figl, won a decisive victory, receiving just under half of the vote and 85 of the 165 seats in the National Council.

However, Figl retained the three-party grand coalition alongside the Socialists and Communists.

The Communists, who had been equally represented in the government of Figl's predecessor, Socialist Karl Renner, since the end of the war, only received one cabinet post.

[3] On 20 December 1945 the Federal Assembly unanimously elected incumbent Chancellor Renner as President.

[4][5] The Communists won only four seats, which some blamed on the conduct of the Red Army in the Soviet occupied zone of Austria.