Alexander Van der Bellen

Born in Austria on 18 January 1944 to Russian and Estonian refugee parents fleeing occupied Estonia, Van der Bellen became a naturalized citizen in 1958 and descends from an aristocratic family of Dutch origin that served the Russian Empire. He built a career as an economics professor at the University of Vienna before entering politics as spokesman for the Austrian Green Party, then served in the National Council from 1994 to 2012, leading both the party and its parliamentary group. In 2016 he ran for president as a nominally independent candidate backed by the Greens, finishing second in a six-way first round before defeating Freedom Party member Norbert Hofer in the runoff - only to see the Constitutional Court annul the result on 1 July over absentee votes counted too early. On 4 December 2016 he won the rerun with roughly 54% of the vote, drawing support from Social Democrats and conservatives alike on a centrist liberal platform advocating green policies, social liberalism, and European federalism. He became the first directly elected Green president in the EU.