The conservative People’s Party (OVP), led by 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz, is projected to finish first in Austria’s snap parliamentary election, according to exit polls that suggest a clear shift to the right.

A forecast by public broadcaster ORG showed OVP winning 30.2 percent of Sunday’s vote, followed by the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) with 26.8 percent and the Social Democratic Party (SPO) at 26.3 percent.

The projection was based on 42 percent of counted votes. Another forecast by pollster ARGE Wahlen also showed the OVP in the lead.

According to the exit polls, Kurz’s OVP is well short of a majority. The most likely outcome appears to be a coalition government led by the OVP with the support of the far-right FPO.

Austria’s election arrived almost a year earlier than expected, following a breakdown of the country’s grand coalition government in May.

(Source: Al Jazeera)