Hofer was a candidate for President of Austria in the 2016 election. He received the plurality of votes, 35% as opposed to 21% of rival Alexander Van der Bellen, in the first round. The much closer results of the second round of voting (49.7%/50.3%) were annulled by the Constitutional Court due to voting irregularities affecting nearly 78,000 votes, requiring the election to be re-held. In the re-run on 4 December 2016 he received 46% of the vote and lost the election to Van der Bellen.