mr. hofer has suggested he would start using the powers that previous presidents have not exercised. he could be a relatively significant figure in european politics. >> what about the fact that austria is one of europe's most wealthy economies, what impact could that have if mr. hofer prevails? >> it all really depends what happens next? the president can't sudden i start making policies. he doesn't have much direct executive power. you have to see this in the biggest story of what's happening in austria at the moment. his party, the fpo, the party many consider far right, is leading by quite a long way. that party has been in government before but not put up the chancellor, has not led that government. it looks like if a parliamentary election were held soon and the fpo would be leading the next government and provide the next chancellor, most possibly stratford is the leader of the party and very much a sort of senior figure to mr. hofer. mr. hofer as president would make that happen by trig

what could mr. hofer bring to austria? >> reporter: it could have a different outcome. it's simply too close to call. polls opened at 7:00 a.m., 6:00 a.m. in some places. we won't get an indication until 5:00 p.m. tonight. that's when the first exit polls come out tonight. they'll be careful at counting this time because in the previous election, it was won by a very slim margin. by alexander van der bellen. he's the left candidate. he won by a margin of just 30,000 votes, which is why, when hofer's party, the freedom party, fpo, demanded a recount of one district, they decided that they had to do it all over again because there were -- the votes were mishandled. so as a result, we're now at this point where we're doing another election. turnout so far is good. we're waiting for the candidates, van der bellen and hofer to vote. but if norbert hofer wins, as you point out, he will be the first far right leader in western europe since world war ii. he's campaigned strongly for stopping immigration altogether and stopping what he describes as islamization. he's very much g