Austrians began voting on Sunday just two years after the last poll and barely three months after the left-right "grand" coalition broke up in bitter disarray over tax reforms and anti-inflationary measures.

The majority of polling stations in all nine provinces opened at 7am (0500 GMT), although voting in the Upper Austrian town of Linz, traditionally the first station to open, already began at midnight (2200 GMT on Saturday).

Polls also opened early in airports and train stations to allow travellers to cast their ballot.

According to the latest opinion polls, the Social Democrats (SPOe) were slightly ahead with 26-29 percent of votes, compared to the conservative People's Party (OeVP) with 25-27 percent.

Voters undecided

But days before the election, some 30 percent of the 6.3 million eligible voters were still undecided, according to a Gallup poll published on Saturday.

And this, along with the leading parties' poorest scores since the end of World War II, could benefit the far-right, analysts predicted.

The far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) was in third place with 17-19 percent support, far ahead of the environmentalist Greens with 11-12 percent.

Meanwhile, Joerg Haider's maverick far-right Alliance for Austria's Future (BZOe) could count on eight percent, bringing the total far-right level with the Social Democrats and conservatives.

The left-right coalition collapsed in July after barely 18 months in power with the now infamous catchphrase "enough is enough," uttered by Deputy Chancellor and OeVP leader Wilhelm Molterer.

The government under Social Democrat Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer had proved incapable of passing even the simplest projects, often resorting to quarreling and bickering instead.

But the final straw came when Gusenbauer and new SPOe leader Werner Faymann called, in an open letter to the tabloid Kronen Zeitung, for all future EU decisions to be submitted to a referendum, effectively reversing government policy.

Molterer, who has the charisma of a small-town librarian with his neatly trimmed beard and fuddy-duddy suits, has little chance of securing the most votes on Sunday, observers say.

'Grand' coalition unpopular

But the eternally-smiling Faymann, who replaced soft Gusenbauer as party leader in June, has failed to bring his party over the 30-percent mark despite leading the popularity charts since the start of the campaign, paving the way for a far-right progression.

In a last-minute bid to demonstrate their decision-making abilities, the various parties agreed on Wednesday to a package of new laws ? expected to cost some three billion euros ($4.38-billion) ? raising family aid and pensions and abolishing university tuition fees.

But although they formed short-term alliances for the occasion, the question remains who will form the next government, as both the OeVP and SPOe have rejected coalitions with the FPOe, and another "grand" coalition remains an unpopular solution with voters.

After the last election in October 2006, coalition talks took three months before a government was finally sworn in, in January 2007.

Sunday's vote has also introduced two novelties: the government will be elected for five years instead of four, and the voting age will drop to 16, bringing the number of first-time voters up to 184 000 or three percent of the electorate.

Polling stations close at 5pm (1500 GMT) with first exit polls expected shortly thereafter.