Austria's Freedom Party conceded defeat on Sunday Dec 04,2016 in its bid to elect
Europe's first far-right president, as projections showed its candidate
Norbert Hofer lagging behind in a bitterly fought election re-run.
Greens-backed
independent Alexander Van der Bellen(72)swept 53.6 per cent of the
votes, while his rival of the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe)
received 46.4 per cent, projections showed.
The
official result of the marathon presidential election, which lasted
nearly a year, is not expected before Monday Dec 05,2016, but the party conceded
defeat within minutes of the poll projections being released, shortly
after voting ended.
Note
The election is a court-ordered re-run of a May 2016 vote that Greens-backed
independent Alexander Van der Bellen won by less than one percentage point.
Hundreds of furious Austrians marched through the streets of Vienna on
Saturday Dec 03,2016 to protest against far-right presidential candidate Norbert
Hofer
2016 Austrian Presidential Election Re-Run Candidates
Norbert Hofer and Alexander Van der Bellen, two candidates with strongly different views.
Since
announcing his candidacy last year, Norbert Hofer has emerged as a major figure
of his right-wing populist Freedom Party.
The 45-year old engineer rose
through party ranks and launched his bid for the presidency from his
post as one of three parliamentary presidents. A smooth talker with a
ready smile, Hofer changes the style, tone and contents of his message
at will - from moderate, when addressing undecided voters to polemical
with Freedom Party supporters that play to their euroskeptic and
anti-migrant sentiments.
Alexander Van
der Bellen is running as an independent but is supported by the Green
Party, where he held senior positions until 2008.
The rumpled-looking
former economics professor emigrated from Estonia with his parents as a
child. He is strongly supportive of the European Union, advocates
liberal migrant policies and often sounds the alarm against what he sees
as Europe's rightward drift toward populism and nationalism.
No comments:
Post a Comment