Austria’s Freedom Party Contests Presidency Result in Court
- Party leader Strache seeks election rerun on irregularities
- Vienna’s Constitutional Court has to decide within four weeks
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Austria’s populist Freedom Party challenged the result of last month’s presidential election after its candidate Norbert Hofer lost narrowly, citing irregularities affecting about two-thirds of the mail ballots that tipped the balance.
Party head Heinz-Christian Strache contested the election in the Constitutional Court with a 150-page filing, he told reporters in Vienna on Wednesday, the last day the challenge was possible. Strache said the vote must be repeated because more than half a million ballots are affected. Hofer lost the May 22 election to Alexander Van der Bellen by 30,863 votes, according to the final result published June 1 by the interior ministry.