Austria's political "grandchildren" are expected to go for new election victory

The polling stations have opened for the country's 6.4 million eligible voters. The first forecasts are expected at 17 when they close. A result is not expected until 19.

The right-wing nationalists in the Freedom Party FPÖ and the Social Democratic SPÖ are predicted to be the losers of the elections, both in terms of voter support and the opportunity for government cooperation.

The previous government, where Kurz's bourgeois ÖVP ruled with FPÖ, burst this spring because of the so-called Ibiza scandal.

In a secret recording from Ibiza, the then Vice-Chancellor and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache seemed to negotiate with a person connected to Russian business interests. Strache resigned, but new suspicious corruption stories about him have been revealed recently.

Sebastian Kurz's bourgeois middle party has a clear lead with the help of votes from former FPÖ voters. The other major middle party, the Social Democrats, has lost votes to the Greens.

The environmental party is predicted to receive up to 12 per cent of voter support, a threefold compared to the last election in 2017. This is the same trend as in Germany. The climate issue has engaged many voters.

Sebastian Kurz is considered a political child by analysts. He has driven his party to the right in the immigration issue but still appears to be the loyal bloc in the EU. His modern appearance suggests that he will dare to co-rule with the Greens, despite major ideological differences. The Liberal Party Neos is also expected to take up its seat in a Kurz-led coalition for the first time.

- Kurz is skilled, he could quickly change direction and create an agreement. Both the Greens and liberals want to reign. Everyone is power-hungry, especially Kurz, says Reinhard Heinisch, a political scientist from the University of Salzburg, according to the AP.

Recently, an extensive hacker attack against Sebastian Kurz's party clash was revealed. For five weeks, the party's servers were emptied of accounting and internal campaign material. The party leadership suspects that foreign intelligence service was behind the attack.