[citation needed] As a young man, Vranitzky played basketball and was a member of Austria's national team, which in 1960 unsuccessfully tried to qualify for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

[citation needed] Vranitzky began his career in 1961 at Siemens-Schuckert, but within the year switched to Austria’s central bank Oesterreichische Nationalbank.

[citation needed] In 1984, Vranitzky joined the SPÖ-Freedom Party (FPÖ) government coalition under Chancellor Fred Sinowatz as finance minister.

[citation needed] In the presidential elections of 1986, Chancellor Sinowatz vociferously opposed Kurt Waldheim, the candidate of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) opposition.

On 13 September 1986, however, radical FPÖ politician Jörg Haider was elected chairman of his party, ousting the moderate vice chancellor Norbert Steger.

In January 1987, Vranitzky formed a government, based on a grand coalition with the second-largest party, the Christian democrat ÖVP, with Alois Mock serving as vice-chancellor and foreign minister.

Vranitzky managed to normalise Austria's relations with both countries and frequently stepped in to perform diplomatic duties commonly assigned to the president.

In the election of 1990, Vranitzky's coalition government was confirmed when the Social Democrat vote remained stable while the ÖVP lost 17 seats, mainly to the FPÖ.

Later in the year, the grand coalition broke apart over budget policy, leading to the elections of December 1995, which however only saw slight changes in favor of SPÖ and ÖVP.

During the campaign it was revealed, that in 1999, Vranitzky had received a million Austrian schillings as a consultant to the BAWAG bank, which was then under public scrutiny.