VIENNA: Austria’s political “whizz-kid” Sebastian Kurz, 31, looked on course to become Europe’s youngest leader, likely in coalition with the far-right, after his conservative party was projected to come first in elections.

Projections put Kurz’s People’s Party (OeVP) on 30.2 per cent, followed by the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) on 26.8 per cent and incumbent Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats (SPOe) on 26.3 per cent.

Kurz, nicknamed “wunderwuzzi”, is expected to form a coalition with the anti-immigration FPOe of Heinz-Christian Strache, 48.

It would be the first time it has entered government since 2000 under Joerg Haider.

Another option for Kurz would be another “grand coalition” with the SPOe, but after 10 acrimonious years governing together — ended early by Kurz in May — this is seen as less likely. The FPOe’s return to power in the wealthy EU member would be a fresh headache for Brussels as it struggles with Brexit and the rise of nationalists in Germany, Hungary, Poland and elsewhere.

Like the Alternative for Germany, which last month became the third-largest party in the Bundestag, and France’s National Front, the FPOe has stoked concerns about a record influx of migrants into Europe. The party was founded by ex-Nazis in the 1950s — Strache flirted with neo-Nazism in his youth — and is highly critical of the European Union. It wants EU sanctions on Russia lifted.

In December, the FPOe almost won the presidency and topped opinion polls in the midst of Europe’s migrant crisis.

But since taking over the OeVP in May and re-branding it as his personal “movement”, Kurz has stolen some of Strache’s thunder by talking tough on immigration and criticising the European Union as well.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2017