New Austria President Van der Bellen Capable of Uniting Nation

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Newly elected Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen is up to the task of uniting the country that has been dramatically divided between the two polarizing candidates and their programs during the election campaign, a spokesperson for the ruling Social Democrats (SPO) told Sputnik on Monday.

"We think that Van der Bellen is the president who can unite the country, this is very important for us. He can be a good president for all Austrians," the spokesperson said.

On December 4, Austria held a presidential rerun between Green-backed Van der Bellen and far-right Freedom Party (FPO) candidate Norbert Hofer with the first being declared a winner with 60.4 percent of ballots against 39.6 percent received by his rival.

The spokesperson added that after the election Chancellor and SPO leader Christian Kern stressed at the meeting with FPO leader Heinz Christian Strache that "nobody should feel as a winner and as a loser after this election, it's just how democracy works".

Hofer and Van der Bellen already faced each other in the second round of presidential elections in May, that brought the Green candidate a victory by a minimum margin of 50.3 against 47.7 percent for FPO nominee. Its results were annulled in July by the Constitutional Court due to irregularities in the procedure.

Van der Bellen ran as an independent although in the past he was a Green lawmaker and the Party leader. In contrast to FPO's Hofer, he was campaigning on pro-EU platform and criticized government's harsh migration policies.