The Austrian federal election of 1994 was contested on December 3, 1994 to elect the Parliament of Austria. The election was called early by Prime Minister Erhard Busek of the People's Alliance (VA), who had only been Prime Minister since September 1, after his coalition with the NVP led by Jörg Haider collapsed in mid-November. The election was a disaster for the VA, which lost 37 seats at the expense of the SPÖ and NVP, each of which enjoyed double-digit gains, and the SDS (Slovene Democratic Party) lost eight seats while the Party for Istria lost one of its three seats in Parliament. The SPÖ wound up with 135 seats after a stunning 38 seat gain, then one of the largest in the history of Austrian elections, and formed a small but comfortable majority government, thus staving off the risk