Austria’s liberal president on course to re-election victory without runoff vote – National | Globalnews.ca

Austria’s liberal president was on course to win a second six-year term outright Sunday, avoiding a runoff vote after a campaign in which he portrayed himself as the stable option in uncertain times.

Preliminary results gave President Alexander Van der Bellen 54.6% of the vote and his closest rival, far-right Freedom Party candidate Walter Rosenkranz, 19.1%.

Those figures didn’t include postal ballots, which will be counted on Monday. Projections for ORF public television and the Austria Press Agency for the final result showed Van der Bellen winning around 56% of the vote, with a little under 18% for Rosenkranz.

Campaign posters for the 78-year-old Van der Bellen, who hails from the environmentalist Green party but ran as an independent, featured the slogan “The Safe Choice in Stormy Times.”

Austria has faced repeated political turmoil in recent years. The Alpine country of around 9 million people went through five chancellors during Van der Bellen’s first term, with government crises giving the often-largely ceremonial head of state unusually high visibility.

There were seven contenders in Sunday’s election, but Van der Bellen had the implicit or explicit backing of Austria’s mainstream parties. The Freedom Party was the only party in parliament to field a candidate against him.