Far-right Hofer accepts defeat in Austrian poll

Vienna, December 4 

The candidate vying to become Europe’s first freely elected far-right head of state since World War Two conceded defeat in Austria’s presidential election soon after polls closed on Sunday evening.

The result is a blow to populists who had hoped a wave of anti-establishment anger sweeping Western democracies would carry Norbert Hofer to power after Britain’s Brexit referendum and Americans’ election of Donald Trump as President.

Hofer, of the anti-immigration and anti-Islam Freedom Party (FPO), conceded he had been soundly beaten by former Greens leader Alexander Van der Bellen.

“I am infinitely sad that it didn’t work out,” Hofer said in a posting on his Facebook page less than an hour after polls closed and the first projections were broadcast.

Austria's President traditionally has a largely ceremonial role. But the election, a re-run of a May vote that was overturned due to counting irregularities, had been seen as another test of populist sentiment in Europe ahead of elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands next year.

Voters may have heeded Van der Bellen's increasingly strident warnings that Hofer wanted to follow Britain's lead and pull Austria out of the European Union.

Van der Bellen had a clear lead over Hofer, according to a projection by pollster SORA for broadcaster ORF that included a count of 69% of votes. The projection showed Van der Bellen on 53.3%  and Hofer on 46.7%, with a margin of error of 1 percentage point.

“Should this projection really be true, at which point we can be pleased, it is a good day for Austria,” Van der Bellen’s campaign manager Lothar Lockl said minutes after polls closed.

When Hofer narrowly lost the original run-off in May with 49.65%  of the vote, European governments breathed a sigh of relief.  

The official result of the election, which lasted nearly a year, is not expected before tomorrow. — Agencies