THE run-off in the Austrian presidential election in May was the most polarising vote in the country’s recent history. The narrow victory of the Green candidate, Alexander Van der Bellen (pictured, centre), over Norbert Höfer of the Freedom Party spared the country the embarrassment of electing the first far-right head of state in Europe.
But as in a horror-movie sequel, the country will soon live through the same nightmare again. On Friday, Austria’s constitutional court annulled the election because of a string of violations in the counting of postal ballots, which made up 16% of the total. Mr Höfer’s camp had claimed that in several electoral districts the envelopes were opened before the designated time, when their voluntary observers were not present.
In a televised announcement, the high court’s president, Gerhart Holzinger, said there was no evidence that votes had been altered or manipulated. But he cited legal precedents, going back almost 90 years, ruling that even the possibility of foul play requires that the election be scrapped. If all the disputed ballots had gone to Mr Höfer, he would have edged out Mr Van...Continue reading
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