On 23 May 2016, the result of the Presidential Elections that took place the day before, finally became clear in a race that was to close to call between Hofer, the far-right candidate of the FPÖ and van Bellen, a former politician of the Greens party. Van Bellen came out as winner just narrowly with 50,35% of the vote, winning over just 30.000 votes more then his rival that won 49,65% of the vote. Following his victory, van Bellen that profiled himself as a pro-European and welcome to refugees, stated he acknowledged the vote had showed Austria consists of two halves, and that divisions had to be healed.

The new President will have to face the challenge of reconciling the different parts of Austria. In any case, the outcome has broken the two-party system, as earlier presidential elections always led to either a victory for the Social Democrats (SPÖ) or the People's Party (ÖVP). Furthermore it is the first time that the FPÖ, a part with a Nazi history, was able to gather so much votes. In the polls it is currently still far ahead of any other party in case there would be Parliamentary elections.

Earlier last week on 17 May, a new Chancellor - Christian Kern - had been sworn in following Faymann's earlier resignation on 9 May 2016. He warned mainstream parties in Austria and across Europe might disappear. The businessman and former head of Austria's railway system urged for a trend-change in Austrian politics, and also did not rule out cooperating with the FPÖ in the future, something which has been considered a taboo so far. Austria has becoming increasingly polarized on whether the country should take a more strict approach when it comes to immigration or a more open approach. The Austrian government had earlier been in favor of Merkel's more open approach to refugees, although following increasing influxes of refugees, in a U-turn it had decided to re-impose border controls and introduce an influx cap on refugees on the 17th of February.

While van Bellen has won the elections, the near-victory of Hofer confirms the shift to the extreme right in Austria and in Europe, as well as a general increasing shift of public opinion towards more xenophobia when it comes to refugees as well as to the European Union, a new wave of nationalism. Mainstream parties are also losing support across Europe. Earlier during regional elections in Germany on 13 March, the right wing party Alternative for Germany has also secured big victories. Furthermore, on 5 March, right-wing parties have surged in Slovakia as well, while polls across Europe suggest more victories could be expected across Europe during new elections. Earlier the IMF has warned for rising economic nationalism across the world, and also in particular in Europe. On 4 May, the extreme Donald Trump had also become the presumptive nominee for the Republican party.

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