After twelve months of campaigning, two rounds of elections, and a repeat ordered by Austria’s Constitutional Court the former head of the Green Party, Alexander Van der Bellen, won the Austrian presidency earlier this month, defeating Norbert Hofer, the candidate of the radical, populist right, 54 percent to 46 percent.

The clear-cut victory has a political and symbolic importance that goes beyond Austria. The message is clear: the rise of the radical, populist right can be stopped.

Van der Bellen’s victory was carried by an improbable electoral coalition of Greens, liberals, Social Democrats, Christians, moderate conservatives, and left-wing forces. In the days before the election leading individuals from the governing parties joined them.