Story highlights Constitutional Court finds irregularities in postal votes

Redo could give victory for far-right candidate

(CNN) Austria could go from having a left-leaning president-elect to a far-right one in a matter of months, as a court has annulled the results of the country's May election and ordered another one be held.

Alexander Van der Bellen was elected the nation's first left-wing president since World War II in the May vote, defeating right-wing candidate Norbert Hofer in a tightly fought contest decided by mail-in votes.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen (L) and candidate Norbert Hofer will face off again in a redo of the nationwide presidential poll.

Hofer's Freedom Party brought the case to court, claiming that some of the postal votes in various districts had been carried out illegally. The court found there had been some irregularities and ordered the run-off vote be repeated "completely and throughout Austria," according to a court statement.

No date has been set for the re-vote. Incumbent Preisdent Heinz Fischer's term ends July 8. Until the new president is elected, the top three leaders of the National Assembly will serve as president. Hofer will be part of that group since he represents the third-largest party in parliament.

If elected, Hofer would become the European Union's first far-right head of state. His party has risen on a populist groundswell sweeping the continent caused by the European Union's failure to make progress in the ongoing economic and migrant crises.

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