Austria’s current president, Alexander Van der Bellen, has secured a second six-year term in office.
He took more than 50% of the vote in Sunday’s election, avoiding a second-round runoff, according to one forecast.
The SORA poll projection put Van der Bellen, a 78-year-old former leader of the Greens, at 54.6% with a margin of error of 2.1 percentage points.
The official final result is not expected until Monday.
His closest rival was far-right Freedom Party candidate Walter Rosenkranz, who received 18.9% of the vote.
The pro-European liberal president faced six other challengers – all men – but only the populist Freedom Party fielded a candidate against him. He promised to provide the nation with ‘stability’ and ‘clarity’.
These were Austria’s first national elections since the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war rocked its economy.
The former Green leader’s campaign positioned him as the “safe choice in stormy times” during his campaign.
