Economics
Austrian Freedom Party Loses Presidential Vote to Van der Bellen
- Freedom Party’s Hofer concedes to independent Van der Bellen
- Germany’s Gabriel hails ‘victory of reason’ over populism
European Populism Suffers a Setback
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Austrians elected a Green Party-backed economics professor as their next president, spurning the appeal of an anti-immigration nationalist who campaigned to weaken ties to the European Union.
With all regular votes counted, Alexander Van der Bellen defeated Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party by 51.7 percent to 48.3 percent after Sunday’s repeat run-off election to the mainly ceremonial presidency. While mail-in ballots will only be counted on Monday, Van der Bellen’s margin of victory was too great to change the outcome, and Hofer conceded defeat.