VIENNA: Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party appeared to be in the lead initially, but Alexander Van der Bellen has moved ahead with nearly 80 per cent of votes. For the first time since the World War II, both the main centrist parties were knocked out in the first round. A key issue in the campaign was Europe’s migrant crisis. About 90,000 people claimed asylum in Austria last year, equivalent to about 1 per cent of the Austrian population, and the Freedom Party ran an anti-immigration campaign. The presidency is a largely ceremonial post, but Hofer victory could be the springboard for the party success in the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2018. The presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament, Jean-Claude Juncker and Martin Schulz, have both expressed concern over a Hofer victory. Support for the party has risen because of deep frustration with the established parties and, more recently, because of fears about the migrant crisis. Right-wing parties are gaining strength in a number of EU countries with 79 per cent of votes counted Hofer, 45, sought to hammer home his message that immigrants needed to integrate, attacking those who “do not value our country, who fight for Islamic State, or who rape women.” Van der Bellen, 72, condemned the “madness of nationalism” during his election campaign. The two rivals engaged had been described the commentators as “political mud-wrestling.” The Social Democrats and the People’s Party have governed Austria for decades, either alone or in coalition. At the last general election in 2013, they together won just enough votes to govern in a “grand coalition”.