Kurz’s Conservatives Win Austria’s Snap Poll Following Collapse of Coalition With Right-Wing Party

Top candidate of Peoples Party (OeVP) and former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz speaks to supporters after the announcement of Austria's snap parliamentary election results in Vienna, Austria, on Sept. 29, 2019. Leonhard Foeger/Reuters

VIENNA—Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz triumphed in Sunday’s parliamentary election while the scandal-tainted Freedom Party (FPO) took a beating and the Greens gained ground, leaving Kurz the option of forming a coalition with either of them.

The election followed the collapse in May of Kurz’s coalition with the right-wing Freedom Party after a video sting scandal forced FPO Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache to step down.