World Bulletin / News Desk

The re-run of Austria's presidential election on October 2 needs to be postponed because of problems with glue on postal votes not sticking, the interior minister said Monday.

The postponement is a further embarrassment for Austria, a wealthy and advanced Western democracy and EU member, and for the government of Chancellor Christian Kern.

Austria has been without a president since July 8 when Heinz Fischer stepped down. He was replaced on an interim basis by the speaker of parliament and two deputy speakers.

The last election result from May was annulled after Austria's highest court in July upheld claims of procedural irregularities made by the narrowly-defeated far-right.

That necessitated fresh elections but this time, there have been problems with glue on envelopes on some of the hundreds of thousands of postal votes not sticking, making them invalid.

On Saturday, independent ecologist Alexander Van der Bellen joined his rival in the vote, Norbert Hofer from the far-right, in saying he now expects a postponement.