Austrian presidential election vote too close to call

Austria’s presidential election was too close to call yesterday, leaving it unclear whether a eurosceptic candidate buoyed by the continent’s migration crisis would become the EU’s first far-right head of state.

A victory for Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer would be a landmark triumph for resurgent populist and anti-immigration parties across Europe that have capitalised on widespread dissatisfaction with traditional parties of power.

It would be all the more remarkable for being in a prosperous country with low unemployment, where two centrist parties have dominated since it emerged shattered from the Second World War after its annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938.