AUSTRIAN ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz is poised for a return to power after his conservative People’s Party topped the polls in Sunday’s snap election.

His government collapsed in May in a split with its far-right coalition partner the Freedom Party.

Kurz’s party is expected to get 37.1 per cent of the vote in the parliamentary elections, up 5.7 points compared with 2017, according to projections released by public broadcaster ORF. About 6.4 million Austrians aged 16 and older were eligible to vote. The turnout was 75.5 per cent.

“Today, the people have voted us back in again,” the 33-year-old told supporters, even as he refrained from saying which party he would seek to form a new government with.

The Greens are one possible option. The party, which failed to secure any seats two years ago, looks set for a big comeback with a projected 14 per cent of the vote. Austrians, like voters elsewhere in Europe, have expressed increasing concern over the past year about climate change, the party’s core topic.

Austrian Green leader Werner Kogler acknowledged that his party benefited from the growing emphasis placed on fighting climate change, particularly among young voters.

“We want to be able to look them in the eyes,” he said when asked about the possibility of joining a future government.

The Freedom Party looked to have dropped almost 10 points, standing third on 16.1 per cent, a sign that voters were punishing the party for a leaked video that showed its long-time leader Heinz-Christian Strache appearing to offer favours to a purported Russian investor.

The country of 8.8 million has been run by a non-partisan interim administration since June, after Mr Kurz pulled the plug on his coalition with the Freedom Party over the Strache video.

The footage, published by German news outlets Der Spiegel and Sueddeutsche Zeitung, showed Mr Strache pandering to a woman claiming to be a Russian tycoon’s niece at a boozy gathering in Ibiza two years ago.

Speaking alongside other party leaders late on Sunday, Mr Kurz said his 17-month alliance with the Freedom Party had been “very good” until the Ibiza video was published. He pledged to hold talks with all parties represented in parliament.