Norbert Hofer

Hans Christian Strache speaks to the press after bowing to pressure and offering his resignation as Vice-Chancellor to Chancellor Kurz. Standing nearby is Labor Minister Beate Hartinger-Klein of the FPÖ.

By Carolyn Yeager

IT'S CONFIRMED. AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR SEBASTIAN KURZ has accepted the resignation offered by his Vice-Chancellor Hans-Christian Strache, bringing to an end the historic rule of the combined right-wing parties. This has occurred just days before the Europe-wide European Parliament elections. Leftists and centrists are calling for condemnation of all “far-right” parties and the defeat of their candidates.

THE LIKEABLE AND MILD-MANNERED NORBERT HOFER, WHO CAME CLOSE TO WINNING AUSTRIA'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION as a member of the Freedom Party (FPOe) in 2016 and was chosen by the new OVP-FPOe coalition government as Minister of Infrastructure, has received death threats on Social Media, and also in his official government e-mail account. This is somewhat unprecedented in Austria.

Here is the e-mail in question (translated into English):

"Nice to install your Nazi chicks at the ÖBB [Austrian rail system].

And I have to work for Nazis now. Your dirty right-hand rat. Have you already planned the transports to the camps?

The day will come when you will hang.

You lousy Nazi rat. You incest child."

Alexander Van der Bellen (left) and Norbert Hofer during a joint appearance on Nov. 26th.

WITH THE RE-RUN ELECTION ONLY 5 DAYS AWAY ON SUNDAY, DEC. 4TH, Norbert Hofer appears to be holding his lead over Alexander Van der Bellen. In some polls, Hofer is at 52% to VdB's 48%.

According to bookmaker Paddy Power as of November 23, Hofer’s odds of becoming the next Austrian President were 4/9; Mr Van der Bellen was just behind him with odds of 13/8 .

It is thought that Mr Hofer has been given a boost by Donald Trump’s populist victory in America and the anti-establishment vote for Brexit in the UK. If he triumphs, he will be seen as Europe’s first “far-right” leader to be elected since the end of the Second World War. Hofer correctly rejects the term “far-right” and says he and his party are mainstream because they are in alighnment with the Austrian people. His party strongly opposes the “Islamisation of Europe” and has proposed a full ban on wearing the burka in public. The other parties are left, with the Green Party, which Van der Bellen led for 10 years, being a far-left party.

ANIMAL LOVER NORBERT HOFER ENDED HIS VACATION ON SUNDAY by attending a poultry festival in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia. [cackle, cackle]

But on Saturday, he was interviewed by OE24 and without hesitation laid out his ideas.

His party, the Freedom Party of Austria - FPÖ - has insisted it is not for an Öxit – that is, Austria leaving the European Union. 

Hofer makes it clear there are two conditions under which he would call for Austria to do just that, however. One, if Turkey becomes a member of the EU, and two, if the EU becomes too centralized - if contracts are made in which the member states have no influence.

Austria's highest court on Friday ordered a rerun of the country's presidential election, giving Norbert Hofer (FPÖ - left) a second chance at the office after his narrow loss last month.

The decision was unprecedented in Austria's post-war history and beyond, appearing to be the first time that a nationwide election has been annulled and a repeat vote called in any European Union country.

Norbert Hofer (left) and Alexander Van der Bellen share the stage during the Austrian Presidential election campaign in May.

GOOD NEWS! A CHALLENGE TO THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RUNOFF, in which Alexander Van der Bellen was delcared the winner, was filed today by Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache,

As you recall, it was the postal ballots that pushed former leader of the Green Party, Van der Bellen - who ran as an independent - over the line to defeat FPÖ candidate Norbert Hofer. The margin of victory was under 1 percentage point, or roughly 31,000 votes.

Strache filed an official challenge at the Constitution Court, saying “Without these glitches, irregularities and breaking of laws, Hofer could have become president. I think a re-election is very realistic."

Norbert Hofer and H-C Strache enter the press conference room on Tuesday, May 24. Hofer made clear he would not run for Chancellor himself but would support Strache's bid "with all his personality."

In a news conference today, presidential candidate Norbert Hofer and FPÖ party leader Heinz-Christian Strache made statements and took questions. They offered that there would be no protest of the close election result, but Strache said they had received a lot of letters [of complaints] and would follow up on them. “Only then can you tell if there is some truth” about irregularities so many are reporting.

Strache also called for a new electoral system with a restriction on the absentee ballot.

But Hofer said he could see no trace of “politics” interfering anywhere in the country and requested that Austrians respect the election results. Despite the outcome, he didn't regret his candidacy in any way and called the election campaign an "incredibly positive experience."

This is not what I wanted to post here today, but take a good look even if it makes you sick. Austrians and Europe have six years of this refugee-welcoming, super-liberal traitor Van der Bellen in office. I'm afraid his questionable win undermines the patriot movement Europe-wide because hopes were so high. It should not be so readily accepted, and maybe it won't be.

This outcome is incredible to me, and not fully believable, but the FPOe, Freedom Party of Austria, is not contesting the narrow victory of Alexander van der Bellen by 30,000 mail-in votes.

According to the website of the Interior Ministry, the final vote is 2,223,458 votes for Hofer, 2,254,484 for Van der Bellen. This means that VdB got a huge margin of the mail-in (also called absentee and postal) vote. The German government English-language website Deutsche Welle posted a brief report that explained it thusly:

Preliminary final vote results from the Austrian Interior Ministry

I've been following this election news all day, but don't want to celebrate before the winner is officially announced, expected around 3 a.m. my time at the earliest. All FPOe supporters are feeling cautious about what the Left might be up to with the mail-in vote counting, called the postal vote in Austria.

While we wait, please read the excellent detailed coverage at The New Observer, which follows European right-wing parties closely. I was thrilled as usual to read these lines: