VIENNA (Reuters) -- Young conservative star Sebastian Kurz is on track to become Austria’s next leader after an election on Sunday, but his party is far short of a majority and likely to seek a coalition with the resurgent far right.
Foreign Minister Kurz, who is just 31, managed to propel his People’s Party to first place by taking a hard line on immigration that left little space between it and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO).
Both parties increased their share of the vote from the last parliamentary election in 2013, projections showed, marking a sharp shift to the right in the wake of Europe’s migration crisis. Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats were in a close race with the FPO for second place.
"I am truly overwhelmed,” Kurz told cheering supporters at an election party after polls closed. "We made the impossible possible. Thank you very much for your commitment and this historic success.”
He was less effusive about his coalition plans. Kurz repeatedly declined to say which option he favored, adding that he wanted to await the count of postal ballots that will settle the race for second place.
The bulk of those ballots, which are roughly a sixth of those cast, was to be counted on Monday.
"Let’s give it a couple of days. Then we will see what the result really looks like,” Kurz told broadcaster ORF when pressed on what he plans to do. He said he intended to talk to all parties in parliament and did not rule out forming a minority government.
Austria, a wealthy country of 8.7 million people that stretches from Slovakia to Switzerland, was a gateway into Germany for more than 1 million people during the migration crisis that began in 2015. Many of them were fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Austria also took in roughly one percent of its population in asylum seekers in 2015, one of the highest proportions on the continent. Many voters feel the country was overrun.
Kurz’s strategy of focusing on that issue appears to have paid off, despite economic growth on track to be the fastest in six years and falling unemployment touted by Kern, who depicted Kurz as the candidate of the rich.
Kurz, named party leader only in May, called an end to the current alliance with the Social Democrats, forcing Sunday’s snap election. He has pledged to shake up Austrian politics, dominated for decades by coalitions between those two parties.