Far-right party wins 1st round of Austria’s presidential elections

Austria's extreme right-wing "Freedom" party won the first round of the country's presidential elections on Sunday with 36.4 percent of the vote, according to initial results. The party's leader Norbert Hofer, whose campaign focused on the possible threat from Muslim asylum seekers and opposition to continued membership in the European Union, defeated his opponents from the centrist and left-wing parties who each received about 11 percent of the vote. The turnout was about 70 percent, approximately 20 percent higher than that of the previous elections.