VIENNA - Austrians elect a new parliament on Sunday with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) aiming to secure its first general election win in a neck-and-neck race with the ruling conservatives that has been dominated by economic worries and immigration.

Having led opinion polls for months, the FPO's edge over the Austrian People's Party (OVP) has shrunk to almost nothing as Chancellor Karl Nehammer casts himself as a statesman and depicts his rival, FPO leader Herbert Kickl, as a toxic menace.

Whoever wins will fall well short of an absolute majority, polls show, but claim the right to lead a coalition government. Projections are due minutes after polls close at 5 pm (1500 GMT), with results being finessed over the ensuing hours.

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"What's at stake is whether the FPO will appoint the chancellor or not," Kathrin Stainer-Haemmerle, political science professor at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences.

"Should that happen, then I have to say the role of Austria in the European Union would be significantly different.”

The Eurosceptic FPO, which is critical of Islam and pledges tougher rules on asylum seekers, won a national vote for the first time in June when it beat the OVP by less than a percentage point in European elections.

An FPO victory would make Austria the latest European Union country to register surging far-right support after gains in countries including the Netherlands, France and Germany.

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President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of governments, has voiced reservations about the FPO because of its criticism of the EU.