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Deutsche Welle

Austria's two ruling parties, the Social Democrats and conservatives, received a severe drubbing in Sunday's snap general election. Social Democratic Party leader Werner Faymann looks set to take over the chancellorship by winning 29.7 per cent, though his party lost 6 percentage points compared with the last elections in 2006. The record low results by the Social Democrats and their junior coalition partner, the conservative People's Party, contrasted dramatic gains for the far-right Freedom Party and of the Alliance for the Future of Austria, led by Austria's notorious right-wing leader Joerg Haider.