Austria's former chancellor Sebastian Kurz on track to return to power

Austria's former chancellor Sebastian Kurz is on track to return to power after his conservative People's Party secured more than 37 per cent vote in a snap election, according to the preliminary results released on Sunday.

The snap election was called by Kurz four months ago after his government collapsed owing to a scandal engulfing his far-right coalition partner. Kurz, 33, has emerged largely unscathed from the scandal, even gaining voters from the FPO whose support has slipped to roughly one-fifth of the electorate from just over a quarter in the last vote in 2017.

Sunday's result indicates that the former chancellor would have to choose as to whether he would need to team up again with the far right to form a government, would shift to the left, reported the New York Times.

"We were voted out of office in May, and it was a difficult four months, but today the people returned us to office," Kurz told a room of cheering supporters in Vienna after initial results were announced.

The former chancellor did not indicate as to how he would proceed to form the government.