Austria center-right leads, amid strong far-right gains

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - Austrian center-right OVP is well ahead of its rivals in national elections, but will fall short of an absolute majority in parliament, according to projections of Sunday’s election outcome.

Public broadcaster ORF’s latest projection showed Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz’s Austrian People's Party (OVP) leading the polls with 31.6 percent, up nearly 8 percent from the previous election in 2013.

The far-right Freedom Party (FPO) and the Social Democratic Party (SPO) were in a neck-and-neck race for second place.

ORF’s latest projections showed the Social Democrats at 27 percent, while the anti-Islamic FPO was projected to get 25.9 percent.

Elisabeth Kostinger, secretary general of the conservative OVP, told ORF that they will wait for the official results and then begin talks with other parties over a possible coalition government.

During campaigning, Sebastian Kurz, the 31-year-old leader of the center-right OVP, did not rule out a coalition with the far-right FPO, which adopted anti-immigrant and especially anti-Muslim rhetoric.