Norbert Hofer, the gun-toting far-right Freedom Party candidate, nearly had victory within his grasp, until the postal ballot results clinched it for independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, who eked out a win with 50.3% of the vote. “I would have loved to have looked after this wonderful country for you as president”.
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“While we are certainly satisfied with the result, there is little room to celebrate the high level of support for someone with such extremist views as Norbert Hofer”, European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor said in a statement Monday.
On Sunday, after direct votes were counted, the result had been too close to call – with the Freedom Party claiming a wafer-thin lead over Mr Van der Bellen, a 72-year-old economist who was formerly leader of the Green Party.
Mr Hofer had led Mr Van der Bellen by 51.9% to 48.1%, the interior ministry said, after counting on Sunday.
“Fifty percent confidence in Norbert Hofer is a enormous showing”, Hofer’s campaign manager Herbert Kickl told public broadcaster ORF, toning down comments before the election that suggested the Freedom Party (FPO) might contest the count.
A left-wing independent politician has pulled off a dramatic comeback in Austria’s presidential election to defeat a candidate with a strongly anti-immigration platform.
Some observers predict that the close race might also trigger early parliamentary elections, which are now scheduled for 2018.
“We obviously need to be concerned – they dodged a bullet in Austria, but it’s the symptom of a larger problem across Europe but also in the USA which is a rise of populism, a lack of confidence in the establishment and a lack of confidence in the post-war agenda of globalization, internationalization, immigration and trade, and that’s very frightening actually”, he said.
In remarks to reporters, Van der Bellen noted the extreme passions the campaign had engendered. Van der Bellen got 50.3% of the vote-and 49.7% went to Hofer! Also unseen since World War II was an Austrian president who did not belong to one of the two main parties in the country, the Social Democrats or the conservative People’s Party.
Gun enthusiast Hofer, 45, had tapped into unease about the record number of asylum-seekers at the height of Europe’s migrant crisis, with his typical supporters made up of poorly educated working-class men.
“I will be a president, a comprehensive president”, Van der Bellen told reporters after his victory was announced.
The Austrian presidency is a largely ceremonial role but has some significant powers, including the authority to dismiss the government.
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“One thing is clear: there are many Norbert Hofers in the Freedom Party and we are very, very well placed for parliamentary elections – whenever they come”, he added.
