BERLIN -- The election for president of Austria turned into a cliffhanger Sunday, with a former Green Party leader battling a populist who is seeking to become the first far-right politician to be elected head of state in Europe since 1945.
Norbert Hofer, 45, who campaigned on an anti-migrant, anti-Muslim and anti-establishment platform, had won 50 percent of the vote as of late Sunday. So, too, had Alexander Van der Bellen, 72, a longtime Green Party politician running as an independent, according to the SORA Institute, which based its projections on more than 99.8 percent of the official count of the direct vote. The projections have a 0.7 percentage-point margin of error. Van der Bellen was ahead by 3,000 votes.
Officials said the race was so tight that a clear winner, initially expected Sunday, might not emerge until nearly 700,000 absentee ballots are counted today. Voter turnout was almost 72 percent, and Austria has 6.4 million eligible voters.
The unexpected strength of Hofer's candidacy -- the Freedom Party politician had a surprise first-place finish in an initial round last month -- caught many observers off guard. It reflected, analysts said, the historical roots of Austria's far right. But it has also seemed to capture the populist zeitgeist coursing through the West -- from the United States to Europe.
Hofer has called, for instance, for a fence on Austria's southern border to keep migrants out and has denounced Islam as a threat to Europe's Christian identity. His opponent has preached tolerance and acceptance.
"We'll have to wait until tomorrow," Hofer told reporters late Sunday. After casting his vote earlier in the day in Pinkafeld, a city in his eastern home state of Burgenland, Hofer replied in English after being asked about fears that he would push a far-right agenda.
"I'm not a dangerous person," he said.
Van der Bellen, meanwhile, told reporters Sunday in the capital, Vienna, that he was "cautiously optimistic" of a win. He asked for a moment of silence for the victims of a gun rampage early Sunday at a music festival in western Austria. A 27-year-old man shot randomly into the crowd, killing two people and wounding 11 before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.
Asked as he arrived to cast his ballot what differentiated him from Hofer, Van der Bellen said, "I think I'm pro-European and there are some doubts as far as Mr. Hofer is concerned."
Firearms became a major issue in the Austrian campaign, with Hofer being criticized for publicly proclaiming his love of shooting. Under pressure to appeal to conservative voters, even Van der Bellen this month publicly rejected accusations of being a "hunter hater."
The rightward lurch in the first round of voting last month, in which Hofer won 35 percent and Van der Bellen took 21 percent, reflected disappointment with the two mainstream parties -- the center-left Social Democratic Party and the center-right People's Party -- which received a combined 22 percent.
That showing led to the resignation of Chancellor Werner Faymann, a Social Democrat, on May 9. Faymann's successor, Christian Kern, former head of the state rail system, took office with promises of a "New Deal" and has fueled hopes that Austria's long stagnant power base might be revived.
Neither of the mainstream parties gave a recommendation to voters before Sunday's election, but Kern said that he would vote for Van der Bellen.
Since the early 20th century, the post of Austrian president has been largely ceremonial. But Hofer has vowed to flex the muscles of the office in new ways. He has threatened, for example, to use his power to fire the sitting government -- a ruling coalition of the two parties that have dominated Austrian politics since the end of World War II -- if it does not control migration.
Van der Bellen has made similar claims, saying he would not swear in a Freedom Party chancellor even if that party wins the next elections, scheduled within the next two years.
The constitution gives the president the right not only to sack the government but also to dissolve parliament. Still, both men are likely to avoid open confrontation, political analysts said, even if they occasionally stray from the usual ceremonial functions associated with the office, such as greeting incoming ambassadors, cutting ribbons and giving rubber-stamp approvals of new governments.
"The president can function only if he cooperates with the government," analyst Anton Pelinka said. "I therefore see any outcome as having major atmospheric but less immediate political significance."
Information for this article was contributed by Anthony Faiola of The Washington Post; by George Jahn of The Associated Press; and by Alison Smale of The New York Times.
A Section on 05/23/2016