VIENNA — Austria stood at a political crossroads on Monday ahead of the final result of a knife-edge election that could make it the first EU country with a president from the anti-immigration far-right.
Preliminary results late Sunday put Norbert Hofer, presented as the friendly and moderate face of the late Joerg Haider's Freedom Party (FPOe), 3.8 percentage points ahead in the race for the largely-ceremonial post.
But this paper-thin margin of just 144,006 votes could well be erased once around 700,000 postal votes are counted, with projections indicating that former Greens chief Alexander van der Bellen might emerge as victor in the final furlong.
A final result was expected between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (1500-1700 GMT), said interior ministry election official Robert Stein.
Smiling gun enthusiast Hofer, 45, has tapped into unease about the record number of people claiming asylum last year at the height of Europe's migrant crisis, with his typical supporters made up of working-class men who do not have a high-school diploma.
But this self-proclaimed "gladiator" has also toned down the FPOe's message to appeal to voters disillusioned with the centrist parties in the current government that have dominated national politics since 1945.
"I'm happy that we have finally rid ourselves of the cliches attached to the party," said supporter Henriette Hakl at the FPOe's beery post-election party on Sunday evening.
"I get offended when someone says I'm from the extreme-right. I'm a post-war child, I love life but I want order in my country."
Hofer's winning strategy has mirrored the success of other fringe political figures across Europe, as well as further afield as seen with the success of Donald Trump in the United States.
In a first round of voting on April 24, candidates of the Social Democrats (SPOe) and their center-right coalition partners People's Party (OeVP), came a disastrous fourth and fifth with just 11 percent of the vote.
Their failure means that for the first time since 1945, the two parties are having to watch the second round from the sidelines. This was the final straw for Werner Faymann of the SPOe, who quit as chancellor on May 9.
His successor, railways boss Christian Kern, now has two years to win voters back from the arms of the far-right — which is leading in the polls with more than 30 percent — before the next scheduled general election. — AFP
