Norbert Hofer

 ( Www.norberthofer.at Official Website ) 

From 1996 to 2007, Hofer was provincial party secretary of the FPÖ in Burgenland and, from 1997 to 2007, council member of the City of Eisenstadt. Since 2006 he has been deputy regional party chairman. From 2008 to 2012, Hofer served as vice president for Burgenland of the Österreichischer Zivilinvalidenverband. He was energy and environmental speaker from 2006 to 2015, as well as FPÖ spokesman for the disabled in the National Council.

Hofer became Third President of Austria's National Council on 29 October 2013. He succeeded Martin Graf in this function.

He ran on his promise of "putting Austria first" and received the highest number of votes in the first round with 35.1 percent, putting him in a runoff.Lamparski, Nina. Austria's Norbert Hofer: the far-right's 'soft' face, France 24, 25 April 2016. Austria far right freezes out coalition in presidency race, Cypress Mail, 25 April 2016. 24 April vote total was the best-ever result for the Freedom Party at federal level since 1956. Hofer benefited from the recent migrant crisis, where around 90,000 migrants applied for asylum in Austria, straining the country's resources and public empathy.Frey, Eric. Reflections on the political revolution in Austria, Politico, 25 April 2016. The Freedom Party had opposed the government's original "welcoming culture" and during the summer of 2015 began to lead opinion polls.

Hofer campaigned to dissolve Parliament in order to call new elections.Hebbard, D.B. "Far-right, glock carrying presidential candidate wins first round of election in Austria" , TalkingNewMedia.com/polimedia.press, 25 April 2016. During the campaign he also stated that he would refuse to approve certain laws, such as a planned free-trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, and that he may attend, along with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, EU summits.

Right-wing parties and politicians across Western Europe celebrated Hofer's first-place finish. Those parties and politicians included: Marine Le Pen of France's National Front; Frauke Petry of Alternative for Germany; Geert Wilders of the Dutch Party for Freedom; and Matteo Salvini of Italy's Lega Nord.

The second round election was held on 22 May 2016, with 49.7% of votes cast for Hofer while Van der Bellen, his opponent, received 50.3%, – a margin of victory of only 30,863. Evidence was subsequently presented to the Constitutional Court of Austria that approximately 78,000 absentee ballots were improperly counted too early, which theoretically could have influenced or altered the outcome. Consequently, on 1 July, the Court annulled the second round results and thereby precluded Van der Bellen being sworn into office, and ordered the election be re-run. Incumbent president Heinz Fischer left office on 8 July, and so the three presidents of the National Council – Doris Bures (Social Democratic Party of Austria), Karlheinz Kopf (ÖVP) and Hofer – became joint acting presidents of Austria.

The Court-ordered election was held on 4 December 2016, with Van der Bellen again emerging as the victor. Despite predictions that election fatigue and cold temperatures would lead to a reduction in participation, voter turnout actually increased from 72.7% in May to 73.8%; expectations for a similarly close result also proved wrong, with the margin of victory for Van der Bellen increasing by approximately a factor of ten as he was supported by around 53.3% of voters. Hofer conceded soon after the first were reported, posting on Facebook: "I congratulate Alexander Van der Bellen for his success and ask all Austrians to pull together and work together" and added that he "would have liked to look after Austria" and confirmed his intention to run again in 2022. His campaign manager, Herbert Kickl, who is also the secretary of the Freedom party, attributed the defeat to "the establishment – which pitched in once again to block, to stonewall and to prevent renewal." Hofer remained as joint acting president until Van der Bellen was sworn into office on 26 January 2017. Political scientist Farid Hafez argued that nevertheless, it was a huge success for the FPÖ and Norbert Hofer to reach 47% of the votes, while normally, the FPÖ reaches up to 30% at most at a national parliamentary election.

Hofer himself has stated that he is not a nationalist but a patriot, and that the FPÖ is not an extreme-right movement but "a centre-right party with a high degree of social responsibility.”[9] at Euronews.com dated 24 May 2016 He has also cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as one of his political influences.

In February 2015, Hofer proposed that South Tyrol, an autonomous German-speaking province administered by Italy and formerly part of Austria-Hungary, should be absorbed into Austria. In 2016, Hofer stated that he would want Austria to hold a referendum on its membership of the European Union if the European Parliament were to assume more powers or if Turkey acceded to the bloc. Hofer has also defended the right to gun ownership.

Hofer stated that the Quran was more dangerous than COVID-19 during a speech held at a 2020 campaign event. As a result, he was sued for hate-speech.