| Publisher | Wikipedia |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | April 2016 |
| Content Type | Key Source, Overview |
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Austria held the first round of a presidential election on 24 April 2016, with a run off scheduled for 22 May 2016 as no candidate managed to win an absolute majority in the first vote. The anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPÖ) secured victory in the first round on 24 April 2016. Norbert Hofer of the FPÖ won 35.3% of the votes in a landmark win for the party. The second round of voting took place on 22 May 2016 between Norbert Hofer and Alexander van der Bellen of the Greens. Candidates from the two governing coalition parties - the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and centre-right coalition partners the People’s Party (ÖVP) - failed to make the run-off. Emmanuel Sigalas stated in the LSE EuroppBlog on 1 March 2016 that while the post itself was largely ceremonial, the election would be a key test of the relative standing of each of the main parties. He wrote that the contest was likely to be dominated by the issue of the migration crisis and the creeping influence of the Freedom Party of Austria’s (FPÖ) anti-immigration platform over the Austrian government. ... Austria was due to hold a rerun of its presidential election on 2 October 2016, following the Constitutional Court of Austria’s decision on 1 July 2016 to annul Alexander Van der Bellen’s narrow victory in May. Mario Gavenda and Resul Umit in a LSE EuroppBlog on 11 August 2016 assessed the lessons to be taken from the first election. They noted that concerns over Brexit may have strengthened the appeal of the pro-EU Van der Bellen, but that recent terrorist incidents could also see support drift toward the Freedom Party’s candidate Norbert Hofer. Austria’s Interior Ministry said on 9 September 2016 it was considering postponing the re-run of the election that was scheduled for 2 October 2016 on technical grounds after ballot papers for postal voting turned out to be damaged. The confirmation was announced on 12 September, with the indication of possible new dates for November or December. On 21 September 2016 Austria's parliament approved a new date of 4 December 2016 for the presidential election re-run. In addition to the English language sources highlighted above you can gain much further information via the following German language sources: Österreichische Bundespräsidentenwahl 2016 Offizielle Informationen: Kandidaten und ihre Parteien Online Informationen Medien Blogs |
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| Source Link | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_presidential_election,_2016 |
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| Countries / Regions | Austria |
