Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen has narrowly beaten far-right candidate Norbert Hofer to become Austria’s next president in a tightly fought contest decided by mail-in votes.
His victory Monday prevented 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.
Hofer had held a narrow lead in the neck-and-neck race on Sunday evening, with 51.9% of the vote to Van der Bellen’s 48.1%, according to Austria’s Interior Ministry.
In the end, the race was decided by more than 700,000 mail-in votes, accounting for 14% of eligible voters.
Van der Bellen, who fared better with urban voters, had been expected to secure more of the mail-in votes than his 45-year-old rival, a trained aeronautical engineer, who drew strong support in rural areas. Hofer had won 35% in the first round of voting last month to Van der Bellen’s 21%.
In a Facebook post conceding to Van der Bellen on Monday, Hofer said he was thankful for the opportunity given, urged voters not to despair and said he would have been happy to take care of the country.
Centrists eliminated
Jeremy Cliffe, political correspondent for The Economist, told CNN that the campaign was notable for the “polarization” of the political landscape.
Candidates backed by the two centrist parties who had dominated Austrian politics since World War II — the left-leaning Social Democratic Party and conservative People’s Party — had been eliminated in the first round of voting, resulting in a situation where the center was “really nowhere to be seen.”
This was due to public disillusionment with the centrist parties — seen as too “cozy” and “complacent” — combined with the migrant crisis, which had been a key issue on the campaign trail, over which Van der Bellen and Hofer had clashed.
“You’re left with this clash between quite a conventionally left-wing politician in Mr. Van der Bellen and a far-right politician, Mr. Hofer.”
While Hofer’s Freedom Party campaigned against migration, Van der Bellen — whose parents spent time in a refugee camp before settling in Austria — has championed liberal migration policies.
He had told voters during the campaign: “I’ve experienced how Austria rose from the ruins of World War II, caused by the madness of nationalism.”
Last month, Austria passed controversial new laws — among the toughest European responses to the migrant crisis — restricting the right of asylum.
The laws, which would allow authorities to turn away most migrants at the border if a state of emergency is invoked, reflected hardening attitudes toward migrants in Austria, which has been erecting security fences along its borders.
Hofer wanted to transform role
Cliffe said the role of president in Austria has traditionally been largely ceremonial, a head of state with formal constitutional powers that by convention aren’t used.
Hofer had indicated he wanted to change this, he said.
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, Cliffe said.
The incumbent president, Heinz Fischer, is unable to run again after two terms in office.