Economics
Austria Populists Aim for Breakthrough in Presidency Runoff
- Freedom Party’s Hofer pitted against Greens’ Van der Bellen
- Immigration, jobs, inequality shape voters’ disaffection
Austria Populists Aim for Breakthrough Victory
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Austria’s right-wing populist Freedom Party is aiming to leverage discontent over immigration and unemployment into a breakthrough victory at the ballot box this weekend, as it vies to win its first presidential election.
Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer, 45, aims to beat Green Party-backed Alexander Van der Bellen, 72, when 6.4 million Austrians are called to vote on Sunday. He has pledged to weigh into the Alpine nation’s politics with the authority of his popular mandate, breaking with decades of Austrian presidents who agreed to play a largely ceremonial role.