Austrian election rerun comes unstuck in postal ballot setback
VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria on Monday delayed a second cliff-hanger election as faulty seals on postal ballots ended a second attempt to organize a ballot that could give Western Europe its first far-right president in decades.
The country’s constitutional court scrapped results of the first election in May due to irregularities in counting postal ballots.
Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said the rerun, scheduled for October 2, had also been postponed.
“The reason is a defective envelope,” he said, suggesting a return to ballots used in previous elections after postal voters complained that glue on their papers had not worked properly.
Asked at a news conference if the double setback might damage Austria’s reputation, Sobotka said, “The laugh is always on the loser.”
The postponement refocuses attention on an election that had already set alarm bells ringing among Austria’s European Union peers.
In May, Norbert Hofer of the anti-migrant Freedom Party came within 31,000 votes of a far-right victory. Such a result would have resonated widely on a continent where mass migration driven by war and poverty threatens to polarize political debate.
The FPO then successfully challenged the narrow victory of Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent and former Green Party leader, citing procedural irregularities, forcing the rerun.
Recent opinion polls put Hofer ahead of Van der Bellen.
Sobotka said the rerun might take place on either November 27 or December 4, adding he was open to extending the vote to citizens who had reached the age of 16 since the spring.
That would require parliamentary approval, while postponing the rerun would need a change to Austria’s electoral law.