BERLIN (AP) — The Austrian government, whose five-year legislative period is coming to an end, announced Wednesday that the next parliamentary elections in the Alpine country will be held on Sept. 29.

The decision followed the narrow victory of the far-right Freedom Party over Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party in last week’s European elections, in which far-right parties made major gains across the 27-nation bloc.

The Freedom Party received 25.4 percent of the vote on Sunday, making it the first party to come first in a nationwide election. The People’s Party followed with 24.5 percent.

Polls ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections have in recent months predicted a wider gap between the two, with the Freedom Party expected to be in the lead.

After his party’s defeat in the European elections, Nehammer acknowledged that there was “great discontent,” the Austria Press Agency reported. He also promised that his party would convince voters in the coming months how seriously it takes their concerns as it tackles migration and over-regulation issues.

The country’s last national elections were held in 2019, after then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ended the governing coalition between his right-wing People’s Party and the far-right Freedom Party. A video was released earlier showing Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache offering lucrative government contracts to an alleged Russian investor.

The Associated Press