Sebastian Kurz, the 31 year old tipped to become the European Union’s youngest leader has cast his vote in Austria’s parliamentary elections. <br /><br />Kurz boosted the popularity of his conservative People’s Party by pledging to be tough on refugees. <br /><br />Meanwhile, embattled Chancellor Christian Kern is in a tight race for second place between his Social Democrat Party and the candidate of the far right Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache.<br /><br />Kern’s Social Democrats are currently in a coalition with Kurz. But Kurz called an end to the alliance when he took over as party head forcing Sunday’s snap election.<br /><br />With Kurz and Kern at loggerheads, Strache’s Freedom Party is set to enter a coalition government for the first time with polls showing it will hold the balance of power.<br /><br />About 6.4 million people are eligible to vote in the closely-watched ballot. The first estimates are expected shortly after polls close at 5pm local time.<br />
