Ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz tops exit polls in Austria snap poll
Austria’s conservative ex-chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, looked set for a major election victory Sunday in a snap poll called after his coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party collapsed in May.
The Freedom Party was forecast to lose 10 percentage points and get 16%, a sign that voters were punishing the party for a video that showed its longtime leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, appearing to offer favors to a purported Russian investor. About 6.4 million Austrians ages 16 and older were eligible to vote, with preelection polls forecasting a strong victory for Kurz.
“To go back to the Freedom Party, in the current situation this would be very difficult,” said Peter Hajek, a political analyst, but he added that “the chemistry with the Social Democrats just doesn’t work.”Under Pamela Rendi-Wagner, the Social Democrats, who have led many of post-World War II Austria’s governing coalitions, have failed to capitalize on the government’s collapse.
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