Austrian president wins second term

Austrian President Heinz Fischer has been re-elected after winning a landslide in an election marred by voter apathy.

Fischer won 78.9 percent of the vote, defeating his main rival Barbara Rosenkranz of the anti-foreigner and anti-European Union Freedom Party, who scored only 15.6 percent.

Rosenkranz, a mother of ten, made headlines when she questioned Austria’s law banning Holocaust denial.

Voter turnout recorded an all-time low of 49 percent, DPA reported.

Interior Minister Maria Fekter says the only other candidate running for the largely ceremonial post is Rudolf Gehring, who gained 5.4 percent of the ballot. Gehring is an anti-abortion campaigner from the small Christian Party.

Opinion polls had earlier predicted that Fischer, who took office in 2004, would win the presidential election to stay in office for another six-year term.