{"id":227118,"date":"2016-07-01T11:00:58","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=227118"},"modified":"2016-07-01T11:00:58","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T11:00:58","slug":"austria-presidential-poll-result-overturned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/07\/austria-presidential-poll-result-overturned\/","title":{"rendered":"Austria presidential poll result overturned"},"content":{"rendered":"
Austria’s highest court has annulled the result of the presidential election narrowly lost by the far-right candidate of the Freedom Party.<\/p>\n
The party had challenged the result, saying that postal votes had been improperly handled.<\/p>\n
The Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, lost the election to the former leader of the Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen, by less than a percentage point.<\/p>\n
The election will now be re-run.<\/p>\n
Announcing the decision, Gerhard Holzinger, head of the Constitutional Court, said: “The challenge brought by Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache against the 22 May election… has been upheld.”<\/p>\n
If elected, Mr Hofer will become the first far-right head of state of an EU country.<\/p>\n
His party has based its election campaigns around concern over immigration and falling living standards for the less well-off.<\/p>\n
Following the court’s order to re-run the vote, President Heinz Fischer will be replaced on a temporary basis by three parliamentary officials, including Mr Hofer.<\/p>\n
The new election is expected to be held in September or October.<\/p>\n