Decision on Austria Presidential Election Re-run May Be Postponed

The decision on whether Austria will face a re-run of the presidential election amid numerous reported irregularities may be taken after July 6, as initially stipulated by the law, a spokesperson for the Austrian Constitutional Court told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Following the official complaint by the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) on “numerous irregularities and failures” in the counting of votes during May 22 presidential runoff, filed last week, the Constitutional Court was expected to decide on the matter before July 6, two days prior to the new president's inauguration date.

"The law requires that we should take decision by 6 of July but we have the possibility to lengthen this if it is not possible to reach a decision by this date. The deadline is flexible.. I cannot guarantee that we can make it until [July] 6," Christian Neuwirth said.

On May 22, Austria held the second round of presidential election. Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen won the election, gaining 50.3 percent of votes, while Norbert Hofer from the Eurosceptic far-right Freedom Party secured 49.7 percent of the votes.

Last Wednesday, FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache filed a 150-page complaint on alleged irregularities in 94 out of 117 election districts, which he said could lead to the election re-run.

While there had been no similar precedent in a history of modern Austria, the country's constitution has a clear clause for such a case, stipulating that three presidents of the parliament take the office as a collegiate until the new president can be sworn in.