The new Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has been sworn in for a six-year term.<br /><br /> It follows the re-run of the election in December which was ordered over irregularities in the first count.<br /><br /> The former leader of the Green Party defeated the far-right candidate Norbert Hofer in the vote for the largely ceremonial post.<br /><br /> At the ceremony in Vienna he said he would work for all Austrians but rejected the ideas behind the populist wave that’s swept Britain and other Western democracies.<br /><br /> “The danger, the biggest danger I see is, that we get seduced by easy answers, and shift towards nationalism and provincialism. This cannot be in the interest foremost of Austria, as a very small state compared to the entire world. Let us not be seduced,” Alexander Van der Bellen told the audience, to applause.<br /><br /> Austria’s centrist coalition is in a fragile state. The Chancellor, Christian Kern, has outlined a government action plan but coalition parties can’t agree on priorities.<br /><br /> Van der Bellen has warned against a potential collapse – that would trigger a snap election which polls indicate the far-right Freedom Party could win, despite its presidential defeat.<br />
