Inga Fechner, Economist, Germany, Austria at ING Bank, expresses her take on the preliminary official results of Sunday’s Austrian elections.

“According to preliminary official results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, Sebastian Kurz and his ÖVP party once again emerged as the winners of the 2019 snap election with 38.4% of the votes. Coalition talks will start soon and the ÖVP has the free choice with whom to govern for (possibly) the next five years. The ÖVP’s former junior coalition partner, however, took a larger hit than what was expected from polls, getting around 17%, meaning that the party will probably lose some 20 seats. Also, the SPÖ, the former government partner of the ÖVP, could not benefit from the fall of the government and lost voters' support, getting roughly one-fifth of all votes, the worst result in the party's history. Later today and on Thursday, postal votes, as well as ballot cards submitted in other districts than their voting districts, will be counted.“