The far right won almost a third of the vote in Austria's parliamentary election on Sunday, clouding prospects for the biggest mainstream party, the Social Democrats, to forge a stable coalition government.
The result may make it difficult for conservatives, who suffered heavy losses but remain the No. 2 party, to resist the temptation to form a coalition with the two parties on the far right if the Social Democrats' coalition-building falters.Preliminary official results showed the centre-left Social Democrats at 30 percent and the conservative Peoples Party at 26 percent.It was the worst showing for both since World War Two. Heinz-Christian Strache's far right Freedom Party scored 18 percent, compared with 11 percent two years ago, while Joerg Haider's right-wing populist Alliance for Austria's Future almost tripled its vote to take 11 percent. Helen Long reports.
