"The election campaign was wonderful! We started with a rating of 8 percent, and were able to collect nearly half the votes of the Austrian voters. It cannot be any better!" Hofer said.
Hofer also added that he would support party leader Heinz-Christian Strache during the next parliamentary elections.
"I look forward to the opportunity to support Heinz-Christian Strache in these [parliamentary] elections. On the whole, we will have a very interesting list of candidates, and I will be one of them," Hofer said.
Freedom Party calls for the abolition of sanctions against Russia, deeper alliances with eastern European countries and close ties with US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. It is also known for its anti-migrant and eurosceptic stance.
On Sunday, Austria held a presidential election rerun. On Tuesday the Austrian election commission counted all additional votes and officially confirmed independent candidate Van der Bellen's victory in the runoff. He surpassed Hofer by nearly 350,000 votes (7.6 percent).
On Monday, FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache also said that Hofer's result was notable despite defeat.
On Sunday, Austria held presidential election rerun after the July decision of the country's top court to overturn the results of May’s election over postal vote irregularities following an appeal from the FPO. In May, Hofer narrowly failed to be elected president in the second round after being beaten by independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen by just 31,000 votes.
On Tuesday the Austrian election commission counted all additional votes and officially confirmed Van der Bellen's victory in Sunday's presidential election runoff. He surpassed Hofer by nearly 350,000 votes (7.6 percent).
