VIENNA -- Austrians in the stronghold of controversial far-right figure Joerg Haider, the southern Carinthia Province, went to the polls on Sunday to elect new mayors and municipal councils, AFP reported.

The vote comes 10 days after the far-right Freedom Party was brought into the national government of the Alpine state by conservative Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel for a second time, three years after he first shocked Europe by forming a coalition with them.

Only a handful of voters arrived to cast their ballots when the first polling station opened in the provincial capital of Klagenfurt at midnight on Saturday but with good weather on Sunday a turnout of more than 80 percent among the more than 400,000 registered voters was expected.

Counting was expected to start at stages throughout the day but the first results were not expected until late.

The main opposition Social Democrats holds 40 percent of the local council seats in Carinthia, the Haider's Freedom Party 26 and Schuessel's People's Party 22.

The rest are divided between the Green Party and smaller groups.

Haider, the governor of Carinthia, is no longer the head of his party but remains a political force to be reckoned with and the Freedom Party's performance in Sunday's vote is being closely watched in Austria.

The party has six ministers in the new coalition that was announced on February 28, including the vice-chancellorship, taken by party leader Herbert Haupt.

The first coalition between the People's Party and the far-right collapsed last year, allowing Schuessel to call early election in which the Freedom Party lost two-thirds of its support.