Austria's highest court has annulled the result of the presidential election narrowly lost by the candidate of the far-right Freedom Party, the BBC News reported.

The party had challenged the result, saying that postal votes had been improperly handled.

The Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, lost the election to the former leader of the Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen, by less than a percentage point.

The election will now be re-run.

Announcing the decision, Gerhard Holzinger, head of the Constitutional Court, said: "The challenge brought by Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache against the 22 May election... has been upheld."

In two weeks of hearings, lawyers for the Freedom Party argued that postal ballots were illegally handled in 94 out of 117 districts.

It alleged that thousands of votes were opened earlier than permitted under election rules and some were counted by people unauthorized to do so.

The party also claimed to have evidence that some under-16s and foreigners had been allowed to vote.

Following the court's order to re-run the vote, President Heinz Fischer will be replaced on a temporary basis by three parliamentary officials, including Hofer.

The new election is expected to be held in September or October.

Source : MENA