Austria's president today tasked election-winner Sebastian Kurz with forming a government, putting the 31-year-old conservative on course to become the world's youngest leader.
Kurz, nicknamed "wunderwuzzi" ("whizz-kid"), is now expected to enter coalition talks with the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), potentially giving the European Union a fresh headache.
Kurz's People's Party (OeVP) came first in Sunday's election with 31.5 per cent followed by the centre-left Social Democrats on 26.9 per cent, final results showed yesterday.
The populist Freedom Party, highly critical of the EU, came a close third with 26.0 per cent, just short of its 1999 record under former chief Joerg Haider of 26.9 per cent.
Kurz today said after being given a mandate by President Alexander Van der Bellen that he will now "sound out" all the other parties and then enter coalition negotiations.
"I want a new political culture, a new political style," he said. "I want a government that has the courage and the determination to bring about real change in Austria.
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