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On Friday, Austria's Constitutional Court annulled the results of May's presidential runoff election, in which independent Green Party–backed candidate Alexander Van der Bellen
defeated far-right nationalist Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer by less than 1 percentage point. The ruling, which cited allegedly improper handling of the mail-in ballots that tipped
the election to Van der Bellen, ordered a new election, giving Hofer another shot to become the European Union's first far-right head of state. Hofer and his Freedom Party campaigned
against immigration and economic hardship of the working classes. Until the next election, probably in September or October, _BBC News_ reports, President Heinz Fischer will be replaced by a
triumvirate made up of Hofer and two other parliamentary officials. SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEK Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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