

Yet a closer look at the result reveals signs of turmoil in Austrian politics. Due to a larger-than-ever protest vote, the two main parties saw their combined share of the vote fall to just over 50%, down from 55% in 2006 and 78% in 2002. A whopping 30% went to the Eurosceptic far right, split between the xenophobic Freedom Party (FPÖ) with 21%, the more centrist Alliance for Austria’s Future, which fell just short of the 4% threshold to enter parliament, and Team Stronach, led by Frank Stronach, an Austro-Canadian entrepreneur, which got nearly 6%.

Although Austria boasts the lowest unemployment in the European Union and has weathered the financial crisis since 2008 better than most, there is a groundswell of anger and frustration among voters, says Peter Filzmaier, a political scientist at the Donau-Universität Krems. Supporters of these parties “see themselves as the economic losers”, he says. Blue-collar workers deserted the SPÖ for the FPÖ. Fear of immigration and anger about bank bail-outs and euro-zone bail-outs swelled the protest vote.

Young, urban voters mostly supported the Greens, which received 12%, and Neos, a new centrist party that gained a surprisingly strong 5%. The only groups that strongly supported the coalition parties were the elderly and, in the case of the ÖVP, farmers.

With 27% of the vote, the SPÖ remains the largest faction ahead of the ÖVP, which got 24%. Werner Faymann, the chancellor and SPÖ leader, wants to form the next government with the ÖVP, which has started a desperate search for alternatives. The ÖVP has a traditionally strong pro-European outlook and would find it hard to co-operate with the Eurosceptic fringe as it did between 2000 and 2006. The FPÖ has become even more extreme and Team Stronach seems unfit to govern due to the erratic octogenarian Mr Stronach.

By resisting calls for a new “grand coalition”, ÖVP grandees are probably just trying to drive up the price for a new pact. Coalition talks could drag on for weeks or even months. And once the partners get back together, the marriage is unlikely to be much happier than before.