Conservatives win Austrian election but still need coalition
Supporters of Austria's conservative leader Sebastian Kurz celebrated on Sunday (September 29), after it was announced that the former chancellor triumphed in the country's snap parliamentary election, as widely expected.
The 33-year-old cast his vote at a Vienna polling station earlier on Sunday where he said he was 'very hopeful' about the impending vote count.
The election followed the collapse in May of Kurz's coalition with the far-right Freedom Party after a video sting scandal that forced FPO Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache to step down.
Kurz emerged from the scandal largely unscathed and says he will talk to all parties in order to form a governing coalition.
Sunday's vote left him several options across the political spectrum.
His two most likely choices are either to ally with the FPO again or with the Greens and liberal Neos.
A centrist coalition with the Social Democrats is thought to be unlikely.
