With 53.3 per cent of the vote, Alexander Van der Bellen — former spokesperson for Austria’s Green Party — pulled off a significant win against far-right candidate Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party, who took 46.7 per cent.
Moshe Kantor, President of the Brussels-based European Jewish Congress, said he was looking forward to working with Mr Van der Bellen. He joined others in “breathing a sigh of relief that the first openly racist and xenophobic head of state was not elected on our continent”.
Mr Kantor said it would have been a disaster for Austria and Europe had Mr Hofer won, because it “might have given a strong tailwind for other similar extremists, like the National Front leader, Marine Le Pen”.
The Conference of European Rabbis, headed by Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt of Moscow, said they were “delighted” with Mr Hofer’s defeat and hoped the results would “strengthen political forces in Europe which are committed to combat racism, antisemitism and xenophobia”.
