Bethany Bell
BBC News, Vienna
Voters in Austria are going to the polls in an early general election on Sunday that opinion polls suggest could result in a surge from the far-right.
The elections were called after a coalition between the Social Democrats and the conservative People's Party fell apart after just 18 months.
Polls hint that has opened the door for the Freedom Party and the Alliance for the Future of Austria to gain strength.
Voters appear disenchanted with the centre left and centre right.
Coalition-building
The People's Party and the Social Democrats are battling for first place but the polls suggest the mood in the country could give a boost to Heinz-Christian Strache's Freedom Party and Joerg Haider's Alliance for the Future of Austria.
However, the shape of any future governing coalition is hard to predict.
Analysts say the far right could re-enter government but only after all other options are exhausted.
These include another grand coalition or pacts with the Greens and the two other smaller parties who are hoping to gain the 4% needed to enter parliament.
For the first time in a European Union country, 16 and 17-year-olds are being allowed to vote in a general election. Around 200,000 young people are eligible to cast their votes.
(BBC)
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