Polls opened Sunday in Austria in early general elections that were expected to see the far-right gain ground, after the collapse of the left-right coalition that had been in power for less than two years.
  
The latest opinion polls put the Social Democrats in the lead, followed by the conservative People's Party, but neither was expected to win more than 30 percent of votes -- a first since the end of World War II -- following 20 months in government that achieved little except bitter quarrelling between the two partners.
  
This left room for the far-right to chalk up votes, with the Freedom Party (FPOe) in third place with 17-19 percent support according to the latest polls, ahead of the unconvincing environmentalist Greens.
  
Joerg Haider's far-right Alliance for Austria's Future (BZOe) also looked to improve on last time's performance with eight percent of votes.
  
Days before the vote however, some 30 percent of Austria's 6.3 million eligible voters were still undecided, according to a Gallup poll published Saturday by the daily Oesterreich.
  
The majority of polling stations in all nine provinces opened at 7:00 a.m. (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 travelers to cast their ballot.
  
They were to close at 5:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) with first exit polls expected shortly thereafter.