VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austria’s political “whizz-kid” Sebastian Kurz was on course yesterday to become Europe’s youngest leader, potentially in coalition with the far-right after its best result in almost 20 years.

Kurz’s conservative People’s Party (OeVP) won 31.7 per cent of the vote, followed by Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats (SPOe) on 26.9 per cent, projections that were broadly in line with preliminary results showed.

Close behind was the nationalist Freedom Party (FPOe) on 26.0 per cent, twice that of their allies the Alternative for Germany last month and close to its all-time record of 26.8 per cent in 1999 under then-leader Joerg Haider.

Kurz, 31, nicknamed “wunderwuzzi” (“whizz-kid”), took over the OeVP in May and managed to attract supporters in droves by depicting himself as a breath of fresh air, talking tough on immigration and vowing to slash taxes and red tape.

“I promise I will fight for great change in this country. It’s time to establish a new political style and a new culture in this country,” Kurz said yesterday.

But to form a government, Kurz will have to enter a coalition with one of the other parties.

The most likely partner is seen as the populist FPOe of Heinz-Christian Strache, 48, although this is far from guaranteed.

“We are waiting for the final result,” Kurz said.

“If the president tasks me with forming a government, I will seek talks with all parties. I want change, and that requires partners.”

Another option for Kurz would be a new “grand coalition” with the SPOe, but after 10 acrimonious years governing together — ended early by Kurz in May — this is seen as less likely.

An even more remote possibility in the wealthy EU member of 8.75 million people is a tie-up between the FPOe and the SPOe Social Democrats, whose campaign suffered a string of mishaps.

“We want to assume responsibility, this can be in many different forms,” SPOe leader Kern said yesterday.

In December, the FPOe almost won the presidency and topped opinion polls in the midst of Europe’s migrant crisis.

But since taking over the OeVP in May and rebranding it as his personal “movement”, Kurz has stolen some of Strache’s thunder.

As foreign minister, the rosy-cheeked Kurz claims credit for closing the Balkan migrant trail in 2016 that saw hundreds of thousands of migrants trek into western Europe.

He wants to cut benefits for all foreigners, even from the rest of the EU, reduce bureaucracy, and stop the EU having too much say in national affairs — in common with Strache.

“Large parts of our manifesto have been adopted by other parties,” Strache said ruefully yesterday. “That shows that we are the ones who are in the lead when it comes to issues.”