The Austrian presidential election is currently too close to call, putting the country on the brink of electing Western Europe’s first democratically-elected far-right leader since World War II.
BREAKING: Dead heat in Austrian presidential elections between right and left, outstanding absentee votes to decide winner.
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 22, 2016
As of Sunday, Norbert Hofer of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) and Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent Green, are in a virtual tie, with Hofer claiming 51.9 percent of the counted votes to Bellen’s 48.1 percent. The outcome of the election now hinges on absentee ballots, which have yet to be counted. An official outcome is not expected until Monday.
If elected, Hofer would be the first Austrian president not to belong to one of the country’s main political parties — the Social Democrats (SPÖ) or the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) — since 1945. The role of president within the Austrian government is largely ceremonial, but the Guardian points out that a vote of more than 50 percent for a far-right candidate would be a “political earthquake” for the historically centrist country.
Hofner has risen to popularity due, in large part, to ongoing fears over Europe’s refugee crisis. His party, the FPÖ, has proposed stricter border controls, faster deportation of rejected migrants, and increased monitoring of Muslims.
A growing wave of right-wing, nationalist politics has gripped Europe in recent months. In France, Marine Le Pen, a prominent far-right figure in the country’s National Front party, is currently outpolling the ruling Socialist party for the 2017 election; just days ago, Le Pen said that European Union countries are accepting migrants to “push down wages,” and accused the EU of having betrayed the middle class. Early this year, the Danish parliament overwhelmingly passed a bill that allows government authorities to seize any assets exceeding $1,450 from asylum seekers. In Poland, the right-wing Law and Justice party swept the October 2015 elections — just days before, the party’s leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, warned that migrants carry “very dangerous diseases long absent from Europe.”
Update:
Green Party candidate Alexander Van der Bellen won Austria’s presidential election Monday. Bellen garnered 50.3 percent of the vote, to Norbert Hofer’s 49.7 percent. Hofner told supporters that “the effort in this election campaign is not wasted, but is an investment for the future.”