In the just concluded Austrian presidential election, the leader of the anti immigrant far right Liberal Party failed to win a majority. After Trump's election, the pro EU camp received good news at a time when the fear of Europe's election of anti integration leaders moving towards division intensified.

On the evening of last Sunday local time, the Austrian Ministry of the interior said that although the final statistical results could not be obtained until Monday, most of the votes counted on Sunday showed that van der Bellen, a left-wing independent candidate and former leader of the Green Party (above, right), received 53.3% of the votes. Norbert Hofer (above, left), leader of the far right Liberal Party, has admitted defeat.

This result is obviously stronger than the previous general election. Polls show that Hofer and van der Bellen will have very close support rates. In the second round of presidential voting in May this year, van der Bellen only got 31000 more votes than Hofer, with a support rate of less than 1%. In the re-election due to Hofer's query of vote counting, van der Bellen's support rate was at least 7 percentage points higher.

In the first round of this year's election, Hofer won 36.4% of the votes, which made people worry that Western Europe would give birth to the first extreme right-wing leader after World War II. After trump was elected president of the United States, many people are more worried that the anti establishment trend of populism may sweep the European political arena.

If Hofer wins the election, it will add fuel to the already surging extreme right-wing activities on the European continent. Geert Wilders, chairman of the Dutch far right Liberal Party, promised to hold a referendum on brexit in China after the British referendum on brexit this year. Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far right "National Front", who will participate in the presidential election next year, is also an openly anti EU politician.

After the news that van der Bellen was locked in the victory, mainstream politicians in neighboring Germany congratulated him. The official twitter account of the German Foreign Ministry said: "the whole of Europe has breathed a sigh of relief." Sigmar Gabriel, Deputy Prime Minister of Germany and leader of the center left Social Democratic Party, also said that all Europeans have removed their big stones.

European Council president tusk also sent a letter congratulating van der Bellen on his election, wishing him every success in his presidential term, saying that Austria is facing many difficult challenges, and Austria's constructive contribution to the common European solution and the maintenance of European unity remain crucial.

Van der Bellen, 72, is a retired professor of economics and former chairman of the Green Party Parliament. He ran as an independent in January this year and was supported by the green party. He once commented that Trump's campaign style and attacks on women were unacceptable. In terms of immigration, he said he hoped that Austria would be a free country affected by multiple cultures and opposed the removal of old borders.

Hofer is 45 years old. He had previously carried out publicity activities on the anti immigration platform, saying that Germany's decision to open the door to immigrants had made a big mistake, and the whole EU, including Austria, had paid a huge price for it. He suggested that Austria could follow the example of Britain in holding a referendum on brexit, but later softened his attitude and said that it would change the EU into a pure economic union.

The following chart of the European Policy Research Center, a think-tank, shows that since joining the EU in 1994, Austria's domestic forces in Europe have always prevailed. In April and may this year, 60% of those who stayed in Europe and about 30% of those who withdrew from Europe.