"Today we have together written a part of history. We have opened the door to a new era. What we have achieved has surpassed even my wildest dreams," Freedom Party (FP) leader Herbert Kickl told jubilant party supporters in Vienna.
The far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has won Austria's parliamentary elections, early preliminary results showed.
Herbert Kikl's FPÖ received 29.1% of the vote, according to estimates published by public broadcaster ORF.
The ruling Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), led by Chancellor Karl Nehammer, received 26.2% of the vote and remains in second position. In third place is the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) with 20.4%. NEOS-New Austria has 8.8% support and the Greens round out the top 5 with 8.6%.
Initial estimates are based on the counting of some postal votes and ballots from previously closed polling stations.
Since Herbert Kickall led the indictment-tainted party in 2021, its popularity has soared thanks to voter anger against migration, inflation and co-option restrictions.
Reinforcing the FPÖ's image as an anti-establishment party, the 55-year-old Kikel campaigned with slogans such as "Boldly try something new".
Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. (8:00 a.m. BST) and the last closed at 5:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. BST).
More than 6.3 of Austria's 9 million inhabitants were eligible to vote.
The FPÖ's first government with the conservatives in 2000 sparked widespread protests and sanctions from Brussels. Since then, far-right parties have been on the rise across Europe.
At the FPÖ's last election rally, cafe manager Walter Gerhard Piranti told AFP he was intrigued by Kikel's "asceticism", saying he was a "great exception" among politicians "who are generally debauched or corrupt".
Kickell regularly criticises EU sanctions against Russia, supports the far-right concept of "remigration", which calls for the expulsion of people of non-European ethnic origin who have failed to integrate, and opposes the outgoing government.
During the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, the Austria - along with Germany and Sweden - was one of the preferred destinations for refugees and still is.
Meanwhile, support for the conservative ÖVP has dropped by as much as 11% since the last national elections in 2019.
Their junior coalition partner, the Greens, has also registered a decline from previous results.
Analysts widely predict that even if the FPÖ wins the most seats, it will need partners to govern with.
Nehmer has confirmed his reluctance to work under Kikl, who has dubbed himself the future "Volkskanzler", people's chancellor, as Adolf Hitler was called in the 1930s.
However, an unprecedented three-party coalition led by the ÖVP with the Social Democrats, who would win just over 20 percent of the vote, and a third party, probably the liberal NEOS, is not ruled out.
"The FPÖ is basically fear-mongering and will never contribute anything constructive," 29-year-old pollster Teres Frisacher told AFP after the vote in Vienna, referring to corruption scandals that have often engulfed the party.
Both previous ÖVP-FPÖ governments were short-lived.
The last one, headed by the then charismatic ÖVP leader Sebastian Kurz, collapsed over a spectacular FPÖ corruption scandal in 2019 after only a year and a half in power. | BGNES
