In Austria, an anti-immigrant party nearly had a major victory.
A candidate from Austria's "Freedom Party," which has been involved in Austrian politics for at least 60 years, nearly won a presidential election in Austria on Sunday.
The Guardian made an astonishing point in an article published the next day: Had the Freedom Party candidate, whose name is Norbert Hofer, actually won the election, it would have been the first time a European country elected a far-right leader since the Nazi era.
Yes, you read that right. In 2016, a European power nearly elected a president who has things in common with the Nazis.
In fact, some of the Freedom Party's original founders were former Nazis, the New York Times points out.
Austria has witnessed a long train of refugees pass through its borders in recent years: Of the roughly one million refugees who fled to Europe last year, the majority traveled through Austria.
Just weeks ago, Austria adopted a bill to prevent refugees from coming to the country, according to Press TV.
"Based on the legislation, authorities are now allowed to only accept cases of refugees facing safety threats in a neighboring transit country or requests by those whose relatives are already in Austria," the outlet said.
However bad Austria's economy is, however frightening it may be to have 1,000,000 war refugees who need somewhere to live, electing hateful, backwards-looking leaders is not the answer.
Austria made the right choice this time, but it should reflect on how close it almost didn't.
-HS
