Alexander Van der Bellen. File photoVIENNA, Oct 9The incumbent President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, is the preliminary leader in the presidential elections, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic reported. It is noted that these are figures without taking into account the results of voting by mail. from the right-wing FPÖ party, Walter Rosenkrantz, with 19.1 percent, in third place is the independent candidate Tassilo Valentin with 8.4 percent. In fourth place, according to preliminary calculations, was the leader of the Beer Party and punk musician Dominik Vlazny, with 8.2 percent of the vote followed by independent candidate Herald Grosz with 6%, followed by Michael Brunner of the MFG with 2.2% and independent candidate Heinrich Studinger with 1.6%.
The Austrian presidential candidate called for the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions. The preliminary turnout in the elections was 52.5 percent. The President of Austria is elected every six years. Any citizen of the country who has the right to vote and has reached the age of 35 can become the head of state. Re-election of the incumbent leader for a second term is allowed once. The candidate who wins the absolute majority of votes in the first round wins the election. If there is no leader, the second round takes place, in which the two contenders who received the largest number of votes in the previous round meet. The head of state performs mainly representative functions, and also appoints the chancellor and, at his suggestion, ministers and members of the cabinet. In addition, he has the right to dismiss the government and dissolve parliament, and is also the Supreme Commander. The President can be removed from office based on the decision of a national referendum.
