An official announcement from the Interior Minister was expected later on Monday afternoon. “I would have liked to have watched out for you as President of our wonderful country”. His post said that the work of his supporters during the election is “not lost but an investment in the future”.
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Alexander Van der Bellen, a former Green Party leader, has won Austria’s presidential election, narrowly defeating far-right candidate Norber Hofer. Likened to the GOP’s presumptive nominee Donald Trump, Hofer kept a glock on his hip and contended that Austria’s spike in gun ownership was a “natural consequence” of immigration. Many Austrian websites were down under the weight of traffic as the country waited for news of the final result.
The president has a largely ceremonial role but this election was hugely symbolic – the migrant crisis having prompted the collapse of the political centre and the rise of populist right wing. This time, neither of the mainstream parties even made it to the second round of the presidential race, which prompted Mr. Faymann’s surprise resignation in-between the two rounds.
With the results close, Herbert Kickl, secretary general of Hofer’s party, said it might demand a recount “in case of significant signs of abuses” during the absentee vote count.
The FPOe has shaken up Austrian politics and sent shock waves through Europe before.
The Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, had warned before Sunday’s election that a win by the Freedom Party could have consequences for the border region between Austria and Italy, while EU Parliament president Martin Schulz said (link in German) it would “change the character of Europe”. In absolute terms, the scarcity of the result is visible: 2,254.484 votes could gather Van der Bellen, Hofer 2,223.458.
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.
Pollster SORA had said mail-in ballots were likely to favour van der Bellen because they are traditionally used by more educated voters, 81 percent of whom backed van der Bellen on Sunday, according to SORA polling.
Van der Bellen, who was the leader of the Greens party for 11 years, until 2008, ran on a policy of open doors for refugees, as well as greater development of renewable energy.
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Sunday’s faceoff came just weeks after Hofer and Van der Bellen swept aside challenges from ruling Social Democrat coalition candidates Rudolph Hundstorfer and Andreas Khol.
