MittalsJournal
Vienna (AFP) - Austrian far-right hopes of winning a presidential runoff remained on hold Sunday as the candidates were neck-and-neck in a battle closely watched by the EU, which is struggling to contain a surge of anti-immigrant parties.
A win would see Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) become the European Union's first far-right head of state.
On Sunday evening, the vote was evenly split between Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) and Green-backed economics professor Alexander van der Bellen, with both on 50.0 according to projections based on almost all the votes cast at polling stations Sunday.
As a result, the winner is unlikely to be known before Monday, once the postal vote has been counted.
Close to 900,000 people -- or a record 14 percent of Austria's 6.4 million eligible voters -- cast their ballot by mail this year.
A huge influx of asylum-seekers, rising unemployment and frozen reforms has driven voters away from the two centrist parties that have dominated Austrian politics since 1945. ...
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