Austrian court annuls presidential election result after right-wing challenge

Austria’s Norbert Hofer won on Friday another shot at being elected the European Union’s first far-right president after a court dramatically annulled May’s closely fought election result because of irregularities.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the May 22 run-off, which saw independent candidate Alexander van der Bellen beat Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) by just 30,863 votes, must be held again.

“The challenge brought by Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache against the May 22 election ... has been upheld,” court president Gerhart Holzinger said in an announcement live on national television.

Gun enthusiast Hofer, 45, came top in a first round in April but then lost in a run-off with the 72-year-old Van der Bellen, sparking relief among Europe’s centrist parties.

Preliminary results had given Hofer a narrow lead but after some 700,000 postal votes were counted, the Greens-backed Van der Bellen was declared the winner of the largely ceremonial post the next day.

The FPOe, which is topping opinion polls ahead of the next scheduled general election in 2018 tapping rising unease about immigration, launched a legal challenge on June 8 claiming massive irregularities.