Austria fixes vote date for September 29 as far right tops polls

Austria will hold a parliamentary election on September 29, conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Tuesday, with the Alpine nation's far-right FPOe party ahead in the polls.

On Sunday, Austria's Freedom Party (FPOe) won the country's EU elections, the first time it has won a nationwide ballot.

The anti-immigrant FPOe is also expected to win September's vote, leading the polls with an estimated 26 to 31 percent of the vote.

The date of the election will be approved by the cabinet on Wednesday.

"Tomorrow's meeting of the Council of Ministers will set 29 September as the date for the national elections", Nehammer wrote on X.

Following Sunday's election, in which his ruling conservative People's Party (OeVP) came second with 24.5 percent, Nehammer said he had heard the voters' message.

He added he would seek to address their concerns ahead of the national vote, including cracking down on illegal migration.

A win in September would put the FPOe -- which was founded in the 1950s by former Nazis -- in pole position to form a government.

But experts say it might prove difficult for the FPOe to find partners to form a majority to govern, as a record number of parties are expected to make it into parliament.

For the first time in Austria, it could take a coalition of three parties to form a majority government.

The FPOe has been part of a ruling coalition several times but has never governed.

After a slump in popularity in 2019, the party has since bounced back, having seized on discontent over the government's handling of the Covid pandemic, as well as soaring inflation and migration.

The OeVP currently governs Austria in a coalition with the Greens.

But their approval ratings have plummeted, with the conservatives polling at about 21 percent.

The coalition has repeatedly clashed over economic interests and climate policy.

In 2019, the previous government coalition between the conservatives -- then led by chancellor Sebastian Kurz -- and the FPOe collapsed in a spectacular corruption scandal.

But Kurz was re-elected and formed a new government in 2020, this time with the Greens, before stepping down in 2021 amid further graft allegations.

Nehammer succeeded Kurz as chancellor shortly afterwards.