ISTANBUL - Austria's far-right parties made huge gains in weekend parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results, while the Social Democrats received the most votes, yet saw their worst results at the polls in decades.

While the far right surged to almost one-third of the vote on Sunday, the environmentalist Greens' candidate, Alev Korun, was voted in as a parliamentarian and became the country's first citizen of Turkish origin to be elected to the Federal Parliament.

"I am very happy for making immigrants' dreams real. I, and my party [The Greens], have fresh ideas for migrants in Austria, " she said, after the preliminary results of the snap election were announced, according to a report by Anatolian News Agency.

Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter said the center-left Social Democrats had 29.71 percent of the vote on Sunday, followed by the conservative People's Party with 25.61 percent. The two parties had been part of a so-called grand coalition that fell apart in July, triggering the early election. For both parties, the results were the worst they have witnessed since the end of World War II, political commentator Peter Filzmaier told The Associated Press.

The Greens had to settle for fifth place with 9.8 percent.

Joining forces:

The election's biggest winners were the far-right parties, whose performance, together, was close to the results for the Social Democrats. The Freedom Party received 18.01 percent of the vote, while the Alliance for the Future of Austria had 10.98 percent, preliminary results indicated.

The right-wing parties had not been expected to be able to join forces, given their frequent squabbling in the past. However, Alliance leader Joerg Haider said Sunday it was something worth thinking about. And Freedom Party chief Heinz-Christian Strache suggested he was interested in becoming chancellor.

"Today, we are the winners of election night," Strache said.

A total of 183 parliamentary seats were up for grabs on Sunday. If the preliminary results are confirmed, Strache's Freedom Party, best known for its anti-immigrant and anti-Islam campaigning, will have won 35 seats - compared with 21 in 2006 elections - while the Alliance will have 21 seats, up from seven.

The Social Democrats, however, looked likely to lose ten of their seats as they drop to 58 in the new parliament, while the People's Party would drop from having 66 to 50 seats. The Greens also lost ground, winning 19 seats compared with, previously, 21 seats after winning 9.79 percent of Sunday's vote, according to preliminary results.

Some 4.5 million voters, out of 6.3 million eligible to vote, turned out Sunday. However, about 96,300 ballots were thrown out as invalid, the interior minister said.

For the first time, voters included 16- and 17-year-olds, after a new law lowered the minimum voting age.

First Turkish MP:

Meanwhile, Alev Korun, the Greens third ranked party candidate on its election list, became the first parliamentarian of Turkish origin to be elected to the Federal Parliament.

"Immigrants are also a component of this country, and have rights. But for four decades they have never been represented in the Federal Parliament and this is a big blemish. But with the bravest decision that the Greens have adopted, I take pride in being a member of parliament," she told Anatolian News Agency.

"The only party that endorses Turkey's bid to join The European Union is the Greens, and Turkey should have an equal membership in the bloc, like all others do," she added.

The right's resurgence had been predicted by analysts, but they said it would not necessarily mean Austrians were becoming more extremist in their views. Instead, they said, voters were likely disenchanted with the governing coalition parties and woes caused by inflation.

"It's not a question of ideology," analyst Filzmaier said after the vote. "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 no party winning an outright majority, a coalition will need to be formed.

While Austria's far right surged to almost one-third of the vote Sunday, the environmentalist Greens' candidate Alev Korun became the country's first citizen of Turkish origin to be elected to the Federal Parliament.

"I am very happy for making immigrants' dreams real. I, and my party [The Greens], have fresh ideas for migrants in Austria, " she said, just after the preliminary results of the snap election were announced, according to a report by Anatolian news agency.

Austria's far-right parties made huge gains in weekend parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results, while the Social Democrats received the most votes, yet saw their worst results at the polls in decades.

Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter said the center-left Social Democrats had 29.71 percent of the vote Sunday, followed by the conservative People's Party with 25.61 percent. The two parties had been part of a so-called grand coalition that fell apart in July, triggering the early election. For both parties, the results were the worst they have witnessed since the end of World War II, political commentator Peter Filzmaier told The Associated Press.

The Greens had to settle for fifth place with 9.8 percent.