Austria on knife-edge as presidential race too close to call

Austrian far-right hopes of winning a presidential runoff remained on hold today 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.
Today 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 today.
As a result, the winner is unlikely to be known before tomorrow, once the postal vote has been counted.

Close to 900,000 people -- or a record 14 per cent 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.

They are being forced to watch the battle between Hofer and van der Bellen from the sidelines after their candidates failed to make it through a first round for the largely ceremonial post of president.
Instead, disgruntled Austrians flocked to the FPOe's "friendly face" who has pushed populist themes with a winning smile instead of the inflammatory rhetoric used by party leader Heinz-Christian Strache.

But observers have warned that beneath the smooth image lurks a "wolf in sheep's clothing".
He has already threatened to seize upon never-before-used presidential powers and fire the government if it fails to get tougher on migrants and boost the faltering economy.
Gun enthusiast Hofer, who was left partially disabled after a paragliding accident, has denied that he posed a risk as president.
"I am not a dangerous person," the FPOe star told reporters today after voting in his home town of Pinkafeld, in the eastern Burgenland state.
Hofer's win would also pave the way for the FPOe to head the next government after parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2018.

"For me personally, it will be the most moving, thrilling, beautiful moment I've experienced to date in my entire political career," Strache told public broadcaster ORF.
A victory for the far-right is bound to send shockwaves across the crisis-hit European Union.