Joerg Haider, leader of the extremist Alliance for the Future of Austria, signs autographs Friday in the final hours of campaigning before Sunday's Austrian national elections. (Gert Eggenberger/Associated Press)

Far-right political parties scored unprecedented gains in Austria during snap parliamentary elections held Sunday, with the possibility looming large that one of them will once again be included in a coalition government.

The radical right Alliance for the Future of Austria, led by Joerg Haider, received 11 per cent of the vote, while the Freedom Party, headed by Heinz-Christian Strache, got 18 per cent, according to early results.

Both parties advocate an end to immigration and the expulsion of foreigners and asylum seekers who commit crimes.

"Today, we are the winners," Strache declared.

As results were broadcast Sunday night, Freedom Party supporters set off fireworks in the streets, and Strache toured briefly among the participants on his way to victory celebrations, where air horns sounded out.

Austria's two main parties finished 1-2 in the vote, but both were badly wounded. The Social Democrats won 30 per cent and look to lose 10 seats in the 183-seat National Council, bringing their share to 58. The centre-right People's Party scored 26 per cent and would drop from 66 seats to 50, if current results hold.

Coalition collapsed

The results underscored the fractiousness between the two principal parties, who had been governing as a coalition until July. But then, People's Party Leader Wilhelm Molterer, serving as finance minister, announced that an ineluctable rift over issues including health care, taxes and education was prompting him to pull out, forcing national elections just 1.5 years into a five-year mandate.

Analysts said the right's resurgence came from Austrians disgruntled with the governing coalition — seen by many as out of touch because of their feuding.

Peter Filzmaier, an Austrian political analyst, said Sunday's results did not mean his compatriots were becoming more extremist.

"It's not a question of ideology," he said. "There's lots of disappointment among workers, and there are no left-oriented parties to pick up those votes and so the right-oriented parties are able to do so."

With relations having soured between the Social Democrats and the People's Party, and Social Democrat Leader Werner Faymann rejecting the possibility of joining forces with either right-wing party, the election results guarantee that Austria is headed for months of tumultuous haggling over a new government.

If one of the far-right parties is brought in to a government coalition, it could prompt punitive measures from other European Union members.

In 1999 elections, the Freedom Party — then headed by Haider — won 27 per cent of the vote and was included in the government, leading to months of EU sanctions over statements seen as anti-Semitic or sympathetic to the labour policies of Adolf Hitler.

With files from the Associated Press