Sebastian Kurz is expected to emerge victorious in Austria’s snap parliamentary election on Sunday, but it remains unclear whether the conservative leader will lean left or to the far right in seeking the coalition partner he needs for a majority, Trend reports citing Reuters.
The election follows the collapse in May of Kurz’s coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) after a video sting scandal that forced FPO Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache to step down.
Kurz, 33, has remained largely unscathed from the scandal, even gaining voters from the FPO as its support has slipped to roughly a fifth of the electorate from a little more than a quarter in the last vote in 2017.
“We are very confident. We have a clear goal, namely to come first in this election. We want to improve our result,” Kurz told reporters before casting his vote in Vienna, referring to the 31.5% his People’s Party (OVP) achieved in 2017.