Austrians reject far right in presidential election

Austria's far-right presidential candidate was soundly defeated on Dec. 4, confounding forecasts of a tight election in which he would ride a wave of populism sweeping the West.

Norbert Hofer lost to former Greens leader Alexander Van der Bellen, who had put the June Brexit referendum at the centre of his campaign, saying the far right would lead Austria down the same road and warning voters not to "play with this fire". 

"From the beginning I fought and argued for a pro-European Austria," said Van der Bellen. 

Hofer, of the anti-immigration and anti-Islam Freedom Party (FPO), was seeking to become Europe's first freely elected far-right head of state since World War Two but conceded defeat soon after polls closed. 

A projection by pollster SORA for broadcaster ORF, which included a count of 99 percent of ballots cast in polling stations, showed Van der Bellen on 53.3 percent and Hofer on 46.7 percent with a margin of error of 0.4 percentage points. 

The result dealt a blow to populists who had hoped a wave of anti-establishment anger sweeping Western democracies would carry Hofer to power after Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the U.S. election of Donald Trump as president. 

Although Austria's president traditionally has a largely ceremonial role, the election was a test of populist sentiment in Europe ahead of elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands next year. 

European governments breathed a sigh of relief at the result, which opinion polls beforehand had said was too close to call. 

"A weight has fallen from all of Europe's shoulders," said German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, a Social Democrat. "If the projections are confirmed, the result of the election in Austria...