Austrian elections offer latest sign far right's rise is faltering in Europe

Freedom party's vote collapses to 16%, as others stall in Italy, Spain, France and elsewhere

The slump in support for the nationalist Freedom party (FPi-) in Austria's elections on Sunday is the latest indication that if the tide has not turned against Europe's far-right populists, it does seem - for the time being, at least - to have stopped rising.

Sebastian Kurz's conservative People's party (i-VP) won 37.1% of the vote, its best score since 2002, while the share held by FPi-, until May his junior coalition partner in government, collapsed to 16.1%, down a full 10 percentage points.