Austria Orders Rerun of Presidential Vote That Nationalist Lost

Court orders election repeat after Freedom Party challenge
Government cites ‘unbearable’ sloppiness in ballot counting

Norbert Hofer, presidential candidate of Austria's Freedom party, speaks on stage during the Freedom party celebrations at Prater Alm in Vienna, on May 22, 2016.
Photographer: Lisi Niesner/Bloomberg

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By Alexander Weber

July 1, 2016 at 10:17 AM UTC

Updated on

July 1, 2016 at 1:05 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Austria’s Constitutional Court ordered a repeat of the country’s divisive presidential election, giving the anti-immigration Freedom Party another chance to install the first far-right head of state in western Europe since World War II.

Ruling on a Freedom Party complaint of irregularities, the court in Vienna threw out the result of the May 22 runoff won by Green Party-backed candidate Alexander Van Der Bellen, citing improper handling of about 78,000 absentee ballots. With only 30,863 votes separating Van der Bellen and the Freedom Party’s Norbert Hofer after the runoff, a repeat is required, the court said in a statement on Friday.