In Austria, the candidate of the far right party (FPÖ), Norbert Hofer, was expected to win the Presidential Elections after the first round of voting. It was however the environmentalist Alexander Van der Bellen who won the election with 50,3% of the vote against 49,7%, on Monday May 23.
Despite this, Europe is currently facing a worrying rise of the far right, in response to the numerous ongoing crises (the refugee crisis in particular). Indeed, xenophobic discourse is re-emerging and far right parties or those of the populist and radical right are gathering more and more votes inside their countries. Such is the case in France with the Front National (27,7% in the first round of the regional elections in 2015), in Greece with the neonazi party “Golden Dawn” (18 seats in the National Assembly), in Hungary with Jobbik, in Poland with the party in power “Law and Justice“, in Finland with “True Finnish” that is part of the government coalition… among others! (Source : Libération)
To see our previous weekly editorials on international news, have a look here!