Austria to hold parliamentary election on Sept. 29, with far-right gaining traction

BERLIN (AP) — Austria’s government says the Alpine country’s next parliamentary election will be held on Sept. 29.  The government, which is coming to the end of its five-year term, made the announcement Wednesday. This comes in the wake of a narrow win by the far-right Freedom Party over Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party in last week’s European Parliament election which saw hard-right parties achieving major gains across the 27-nation bloc. Polls regarding the coming general election have predicted in recent months a wider gap between the two, with the Freedom Party expected to lead. The country’s last national election took place in 2019.