Acting President Alexander Van der Bellen won a new six-year mandate after Sunday’s presidential election in Austria, winning more than 50% of the vote in the first round, according to exit polls, Agerpres reports.

Van der Bellen, 78, a former leader of the Greens, won 54.6% of the vote, according to a poll conducted by the SORA institute for Austrian public broadcaster ORF.

In second place is his main opponent Walter Rosenkrantz, a representative of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), with 18.9% of the vote. The margin of error is 2.1 percentage points.

Before the vote, Rosencrantz received only 15% of the vote.

Due to corruption scandals, the far-right has lost ground in the preferences of the Austrian electorate.

Alexander Van der Bellen, whose function is purely protocol, guaranteed the continuity of the state.

In this way, he was able to present himself as “the only one with the power to avoid chaos,” according to political scientist Thomas Hofer.

According to Julia Partheimüller of the University of Vienna, Van der Bellen campaigned soberly, promising “transparency and competence to manage turbulence as linearly as possible.”