Austria far-right narrowly loses presidential election

Austria’s Norbert Hofer narrowly failed on Monday to become the EU’s first far-right President, after his ecologist rival scraped victory in a knife-edge election that was a rude wake-up call for the continent’s established parties.

The interior minister said that Alexander Van der Bellen won 50.3 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s election, compared to 49.7 per cent for Mr Hofer, presented as the friendly and moderate face of the anti-immigration, populist Freedom Party.

“Of course I am sad,” Mr Hofer said on Facebook as he conceded defeat. “I would have loved to have looked after this wonderful country for you as President.”

He added: “Please don’t be disheartened. The effort in this election campaign is not wasted, but is an investment for the future.”

Preliminary results late Sunday had put Mr Hofer 3.8 percentage points ahead in the runoff for the largely ceremonial but bitterly fought-over post of Austrian head of state.

But this paper-thin margin was erased after a record 700,000 postal ballots were counted during Monday, dramatically putting Mr Van der Bellen ahead by just over 31,000 votes in the final tally.

Most observers had thought that the professorial and somewhat dishevelled Mr Van der Bellen, 72, would fail to beat his polished younger rival.

“Very few people thought I could catch up,” Mr Van der Bellen said late Sunday.

“But in the last 14 days, there has been such a momentum among voters,” he added.