A New Political Era in Austria as Centrists Fade in Presidential Elections
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Left-leaning candidate Alexander Van der Bellen narrowly defeated far-right candidate Norbert Hofer to become the country's next president, a tightly fought contest decided by mail-in votes.
Austria's presidential election ushered in a profound change in the country's political landscape, dominated by two centrist parties since the end of World War II.
The win placed Austria at the head of a populist groundswell sweeping Europe amid rising frustration over the European Union's failure to deal with the ongoing economic and migrant crises.
The victory held off Hofer, of Austria's Freedom Party, from becoming the European Union's first far-right head of state.
Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka announced the results Monday in Vienna, revealing that Van der Bellen had won 50.3% of the ballot (2,254,484 votes) to Hofer's 49.7% (2,223,458 votes).
Van der Bellen, a 72-year-old economist, ran as an independent, although the Green Party, of which he was a former leader, financially backed his campaign.
A Hofer victory would have been hugely encouraging to other far-right parties across Europe, such as France's National Front, the Danish People's Party and Germany's AFD, Jeremy Cliffe, political correspondent for The Economist, told CNN.
The migrant crisis radically altered the race.
When Germany opened its borders to migrants in September last year, Austria followed suit and was applauded internationally for the welcome it gave thousands of migrants who had been trapped in their attempts to transit through Hungary, which was widely criticized for its hard-line stance in defending its borders.
But eight months on, almost half of the Austrian population has expressed its support for a party that campaigned on a Euroskeptic, anti-migrant and anti-establishment platform.
It's a meteoric rise for the Freedom Party which has had a checkered history.
