Polling stations opened on Sunday 29 September in Austria for early elections caused by the scandal of the Ibizagate which broke up after 18 months the coalition between the right and far right.
Conservative chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on May 18 the organization of the vote, after the broadcast of a compromising video for the extreme right party FPÖ with whom he had been governing since the end of 2017.
The majority of polling stations opened at 07:00 (05:00 GMT). Estimates will be available shortly after the polls close at 5:00 pm (15:00 GMT).
Credited from 33 to 35% of voting intentions in the polls, the ÖVP party of former Chancellor Kurz appears as the favorite of the legislative, ahead of the SPÖ (22%) and the FPÖ (20%).
Risky variants
According to projections, Sebastian Kurz would have the arithmetical possibility of forming a coalition with one or other of these formations, but also with the liberal Neos party or with the Greens, who should get more than 4% needed to enter parliament .
All these variants are risky and foreshadow long weeks of negotiations for the former Chancellor, who promised his constituents a return to stability.
The Right-Right-Right coalition shattered after the May 17 broadcast of a trap video shot in Ibiza on the Balearic Islands in 2017, showing FPÖ chief Heinz-Christian Strache offering public contracts to a false Russian oligarch in exchange for hidden funds.
Heinz-Christian Strache resigned from his post as vice-chancellor and his position as head of the party.
Austria has since been led by an interim government led by Magistrate Brigitte Bierlein.
With AFP