UPDATE 1-Kurz's party far ahead in Austrian EU vote, projection shows

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's party came a clear first in European elections, the country's main projection showed on Sunday, strengthening his hand on the eve of a no-confidence motion against him in parliament.

Kurz's coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) collapsed after a video sting prompted FPO leader and Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache to step down last weekend. Kurz is now in charge of a caretaker government in which FPO ministers have been replaced by civil servants ahead of a snap election widely expected in September.

But opposition parties blame him for the current political crisis and at least one of them says it will submit a no-confidence motion on Monday. "One has nothing to do with the other," the chairman of the opposition Social Democrats Thomas Drozda said, referring to the EU vote result and the no-confidence vote in parliament.

Drozda was speaking to national broadcaster ORF after the projection came out showing Kurz's party nine points ahead. "He (Kurz) has done nothing to build this trust that would have been necessary."

The Social Democrats and the Freedom Party are likely to determine the outcome of a no-confidence vote on Kurz. Neither has said which way it will vote. The projection for the European Parliament elections, based on polling of 5,200 voters carried out between Tuesday and Sunday, mainly before the election, showed Kurz's People's Party on 34.5%, the opposition Social Democrats on 23.5% and the far-right Freedom Party in third place on 17.5%.

The polls in Austria closed at 5 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) and the first results are expected at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT). (Reporting by Francois Murphy and Kirsti Knolle Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Jane Merriman)