Sebastian Kurz, who was ousted in June after a coalition scandal, has won Sunday's election and can lead a stable coalition, voting projections show.
ADVERTISEMENTSebastian Kurz has won Sunday's snap parliamentary election and has several options for a coalition that will give his conservative People's Party a stable majority, voting projections showed after the close of polls.
The 33-year-old, whose coalition with the far-right was ousted in June amid a scandal, has 38.4% of the vote — well ahead of the Social Democrats on 21.5%, the far-right Freedom Party on 17.3%, the Greens on 12.4% and the liberal Neos on 7.4%, according to Austria's Interior ministry.
The full results, including around a million postal votes which are yet to be counted, are expected next week.
The country has been led by a caretaker government since June, when Kurz — Europe's youngest chancellor — lost a confidence vote in the wake of the 'Ibiza video' scandal.
The video showed Heinz-Christian Strache, the head of the country's far-right Freedom Party and Kurz' coalition partner, attempting to sell off state assets to a fake Russian oligarch.
Kurz has said he will talk to all parties after the election if he wins. His two most likely options are either to ally with the Freedom Party again or with the Greens and liberal Neos. A centrist coalition with the Social Democrats is possible but unlikely under their current leadership.
Read more: Who will Austria's Sebastian Kurz choose as coalition partner?