Far-right Hofer set for victory in tight Austrian election

Polls are open in the second round of voting in Austria’s presidential election.
The ballot could herald the election of the European Union’s first far-right head of state.
Norbert Hofer, of the Freedom Party polled 35 percent of the vote in the first round, well short of a majority, but enough to send a shudder through Europe as far-right parties gain ground in a number of EU member states.

Big election tomorrow in small #Austria: anti-Immigrant #Hofer (L) vs Greens' #Bellen. Could be populist breakthru. pic.twitter.com/AeaDBOl3eC

— Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielPipes/status/734083178072281093">May 21, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <b></b> Hofer is up against the former Green party member, now running as an independent Alexander Van der Bellen. <b></b> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Presidential elections in Austria on Sunday: meet the two candidates<a href="https://t.co/0SbISF92yK">https://t.co/0SbISF92yK</a></p>&mdash; euronews (euronews) May 21, 2016

Immigration has dominated the campaign with 90,000 people claiming asylum in Austria last year.

Beautiful #Austria on the verge of a polarizing presidential election #farright#Greenspic.twitter.com/roNlzeZVdF

— Bethany Bell (@BethanyBellBB) May 21, 2016

The Freedom Party has campaigned on an anti-immigration ticket.