The walls at the Vienna headquarters of Team Kurz are covered with motivational slogans while the youthful volunteers preparing leaflets seem in the grip of a messianic fervour.
Their idol is Sebastian Kurz, the 31-year-old poster boy of Austrian politics, who inspires a cultish devotion unlike anything seen before in the People’s Party, home of the country’s traditional conservatives since 1945.
“We all have the same goal”, one poster says. “We are positive, persuade though our spirit and our ideas”, and “We do not react to attacks with counterattacks but with arguments”.
Since he took over the party leadership in May, Mr Kurz has led in the polls. He is on course to emerge from tomorrow’s election as the world’s youngest elected leader.
The party’s