Allied High Commission for Austria

According to the report of the United States High Commissioner for Austria (Donnelly) covering the first quarter of the year 1951, the most significant political event of the period was the decision of the Austrian government to elect its new president, successor to Dr. Karl Renner who died on December 31, by popular vote instead of by parliamentary ballot. This new presidential election law, enacted by the Austrian parliament on January 16, was one of the subjects under discussion at the February 9 meeting of the Allied Council. Although the three western powers voiced their approval of the new law, the Soviet delegate contended that since the Austrian constitution of 1929 had not been approved by the Allied Council he saw no legal basis for the law and insisted on having it replaced by a “special constitutional law”, which would have been subject to the Soviet veto. The United States representative supported the validity of the Austrian constitution, pointing out that the Soviet Union had already approved many laws modifying the 1929 constitution —a slightly amended form of the 1920 constitution — which had been voided by the Nazis in 1938. The point at issue was the fact that instructions had been given to the Austrian government to prepare a new draft constitution by July 1, 1946, and the Austrian parliament, instead of attempting the task of formulating a constitution which would be acceptable to all members of the Allied Council as well as to Austria, had passed resolutions in April 1946 reviving the Federal Constitutional Law of 1929.