Vienna - Werner Faymann relied on his charm, populist touch and some help from the media to emerge as Austria's likely next social democratic chancellor.

The 48-year-old transport minister and new chief of the Social Democratic Party (SPOe) was not well known among the wider public before the start of the election race.

But it was relatively easy for Faymann to position himself as a more likeable candidate than outgoing Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, who stepped down as head of the SPOe this summer amid dismal approval ratings.

Besides his image as an "ideal son-in-law," as Austrians put it, the Vienna-born politician also had the support of the country's biggest newspaper, the tabloid Kronen Zeitung.

Faymann is seen as being closer to the common people than his predecessor Gusenbauer.

In late August, he announced a package of social government spending and tax reductions, most of which he saw through parliament mere days before the elections.

Before the current election campaign, he kept a low profile and was known mainly in Vienna the former city councillor responsible for housing.

Faymann broke off his law studies at Vienna University to become a professional politician, first as leader of his party's youth organization and later as a Vienna city assemblyman.

From 1996, as Vienna's councillor for housing construction, Faymann was able to build a positive image, while staying out of contentious local politics. He became transport minister in 2007.

As a local politician in Vienna, he built close ties with Hans Dichand, the powerful publisher of the Kronen Zeitung which is highly critical of the European Union.

The paper, which reaches over 40 per cent of the Austrian market, threw its full weight behind the social democratic candidate after it published his open letter calling for public polls on further EU treaties.

Even though several of Faymann's fellow party members criticized him for pandering to populist sentiments, the open letter resonated in a country where 47 per cent of the population think Austria has not benefited from being an EU member.

The conservative Austrian People's Party (OeVP) broke off the governing coalition with the SPOe over the letter and called for early elections.