Rightwing candidate has presented himself as centrist but some commentators warn his charm masks extreme right background The man who could on Sunday become Austria’s first rightwing populist president likes to present himself as a centrist. The Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ), Norbert Hofer argued in a recent interview, was far from rightwing but “to the left of the US Democrats”. Austria, he said, was “blessed” not to have an extremist party like Greece’s Golden Dawn. Last month, Hofer’s pitch as a consensus-building reformer of Austria’s static political system helped him defy the polls and gain a 35% victory in the first round of the presidential elections, leaving the candidates of the centre-left Social Democratic party (SPÖ) and centre-right People’s party (ÖVP), who have shared the post between themselves since 1945, floundering in his wake. Continue reading...
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