Austria: Social Democrats expected to win election

Initial projections from Austria's parliamentary elections Sunday indicate the Social Democrats are poised for victory, though the real winners may turn out to be the country's two far-right parties.

The SORA Institute for Social Analysis and Research said the Social Democrats had 29.8 percent of the vote, according to its preliminary projections after 82.7 percent of ballots had been counted.

In second place was the People's Party, with a projected 25.6 percent of the vote, followed by the country's two right-wing groups _ the Freedom Party with 18 percent, and the Alliance for the Future of Austria with 11 percent.

The institute said the margin of error for its projection so far was plus or minus 0.5 percent _ putting the combined results for the two right-wing parties close to the count for the Social Democrats.

At this point, the two right-wing parties were not expected to join forces due to resistance from Freedom Party chief Heinz-Christian Strache. However, Joerg Haider, leader of the Alliance for the Future of Austria, has suggested it is something worth thinking about. And Strache on Sunday suggested he was interested in becoming chancellor.

The right's resurgence had been predicted by analysts, but they said it would not necessarily mean Austrians were becoming more extremist in their views. Instead, they said, voters were likely disenchanted with the governing coalition parties.

The so-called grand coalition between the Social Democrats and People's Party collapsed in July after months of squabbling.

"We don't have more right-oriented voters than in 2006, when they gained 15 percent together," political commentator Peter Filzmaier said in an pre-election interview. "It's because of a negative mood of frustration, of political mistrust of the grand coalition."

With no party projected to win an outright majority, a coalition would need to be formed.

Social Democrat leader Werner Faymann has rejected the possibility of joining forces with either right-wing party.

It was immediately unclear how many of the 6.3 million eligible voters turned out to cast ballots Sunday. The voters included 16- and 17-year-olds, after a new law lowered the minimum voting age. In total, 183 seats in parliament are up for grabs.

In 1999 elections, the Freedom Party _ then headed by Joerg Haider _ achieved 27 percent of the votes and was included in the government, leading to months of European Union sanctions.