Austrians yesterday returned to the polls in a bitterly fought election rerun that could see the EU’s first far-right president and boost the anti-establishment tide sweeping many countries.
Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party said he felt “calm and optimistic” as he cast his ballot in his hometown of Pinkafeld, 100km south of Vienna.
Hofer, 45, hopes to emerge victorious after he narrowly lost to Greens-backed independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen in a first runoff in May, which was annulled over ballot count breaches.
Opinion polls indicate the two are neck-and-neck in a tense race described as “day of reckoning” by Austrian media.
Smooth-talking gun enthusiast Hofer has vowed to “get rid of the dusty establishment,” seek closer ties with Russia and fight against “Brussels centralizing power.”
Although Austria’s presidency is largely ceremonial, EU leaders fear a win for Hofer would trigger a domino effect, with key elections next year in France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The Austrian election was being held on the same day as a high-stakes referendum on constitutional reforms in Italy that was being closely watched abroad to see if Italy becomes the next country to reject the political “status quo.”
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said he would resign if the reforms are rejected, while opposition politicians have vowed to press for a new government if voters reject the proposed constitutional changes.
Renzi made no comment as he voted in Pontassieve, a Tuscan town east of Florence, along with his wife, Agnese Landini. He was expected to return to Rome to watch the outcome of the vote.
The risk of political instability in Italy, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, has triggered market reaction before the vote, with bank stocks sinking and the borrowing costs on sovereign debt rising.
The referendum aims to streamline Italy’s cumbersome lawmaking process by reducing the powers of the Italian Senate, while also removing some key decisionmaking powers from regions.
Renzi has argued that the reforms dismantle bureaucracy and would make Italy more attractive to investors and help his drive to transform the country. However, his decision to tie the outcome to this political future transformed the vote into a referendum on his leadership.
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