Austria's top court throws out presidential results, orders do-over election

Austrian far-right presidential candidate Norbert Hofer just won a do-over election — (Image credit: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images)

On Friday, Austria's Constitutional Court annulled the results of May's presidential runoff election, in which independent Green Party–backed candidate Alexander Van der Bellen defeated far-right nationalist Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer by less than 1 percentage point. The ruling, which cited allegedly improper handling of the mail-in ballots that tipped the election to Van der Bellen, ordered a new election, giving Hofer another shot to become the European Union's first far-right head of state. Hofer and his Freedom Party campaigned against immigration and economic hardship of the working classes.

Until the next election, probably in September or October, BBC News reports, President Heinz Fischer will be replaced by a triumvirate made up of Hofer and two other parliamentary officials.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.