Norbert Hofer
| Norbert Hofer | |
|---|---|
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| Third President of the National Council | |
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Assumed office 29 October 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Martin Graf |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Norbert Gerwald Hofer 2 March 1971 Vorau, Austria |
| Political party | Freedom Party |
| Spouse(s) | Verena Elfriede Maria Malus |
| Children | 4 |
| Religion | Protestant |
| Website | Parliament website |
Norbert Gerwald Hofer (German pronunciation: [ˈnɔʁbɛʁt ˈhoːfɐ]; born 2 March 1971) is an Austrian politician and member of the Freedom Party of Austria. He has been Third President of the National Council since 2013. He is also, with Doris Bures and Karlheinz Kopf, one of three who exercise collegially the powers of Federal president on 8 July 2016.
Hofer was a candidate for President of Austria in the 2016 election. He received the plurality of votes, 35% as opposed to 21% of rival Alexander Van der Bellen, in the first round. The much closer results of the second round of voting (49.7%/50.3%) were annulled by the Constitutional Court of Austria due to voting irregularities affecting nearly 78,000 votes, requiring the election to be re-held. In the re-run on 4 December 2016 he received 46% of the vote and conceded the election to Van der Bellen.
Hofer was born in Vorau, Austria, the son of a local Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) councillor and electric power station director. He was raised in a middle-class family in Pinkafeld, Burgenland.
He finished secondary school at the HTBLA Eisenstadt with specialization in aeronautics. From 1990 until 1991, Hofer fulfilled his military service. From 1991 until 1994 he worked as an aeronautical engineer at Lauda Air Engineering.
Hofer worked his way up the ranks of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and became a close advisor to Heinz-Christian Strache, who took over the leadership of the Freedom Party from Jörg Haider in 2005. Hofer has been described by The Economist as a "glove-puppet" for Strache.
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