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Voters in Austria headed to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president. Though the race was initially too close to call, Green Party candidateAlexander Van der Bellen was declared the winner after officials counted mail-in absentee ballots.
This presidential election is strange in more ways than one. For the first time since WWII, neither of Austria's main parties made it to the run off. Many say that the success of the two front-runners — Van der Bellen and the far-accurate Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer — shows that Europe's centrist stance is crumbling as accurate-wing populism takes hold.Alison Langleyis a reporter for the media outlet Deutsche Welle, or a lecturer at Webster University in Vienna. Here,she explains how the Austrian presidential election fits into Europe's shifting political makeup.
Source: wnyc.org