Five months after the far-right Freedom Party won Austria's general election, a three-way coalition looks set to exclude it from power.

Austria's three top centrist parties in parliament have reached a deal to form a coalition government without the far-right Freedom Party.

A EU country has blocked an election winning party from taking power just weeks after the US warned the bloc that "the voice of the people matters". Three parties in Austria have reached a deal to form a new centrist Austrian government, two weeks after a far-right party that won an election in September failed to put together an administration.

Just months before becoming chancellor of Austria on Monday, Christian Stocker was a party functionary with no ministerial experience, fast approaching retirement age and barely known outside the political bubble.

The three biggest centrist parties in Austria's parliament have indicated that they are close to forming a coalition government without the involvement of the far-right Freedom Party, or FPO, despite it having won the largest vote share in last September's parliamentary election.