Such concerns could work in favor of far-right candidate Norbert Hofer in Austria's election runoff.

Eighty per cent of French citizens went to the streets and voted against the far-right candidate.

Meanwhile, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen faced her own battle with authorities over use of public funds.

Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has decisively won the French presidential election, defeating far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

But Austria rejected a far-right candidate as president on Dec. 4, favouring a pro-European member of the Green Party.

Norbert Hofer, the far-right candidate whose anti-immigration party was set up by a former SS officer, looks set to win.

It plays into the hands of Geert Wilders, the Dutch far-right candidate in March general elections, who sweeps to victory.

In France in 2002, for example, when far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen made it to the presidential run-off, he was crushed.

Now, with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen polling well in France, they do not want to be caught out a third time.

In 2002, similar divisions helped create the conditions in which a far-right candidate (Marine Le Pen's father) reached the presidential run-off.

For investors in France, the main question for 2017 is whether far-right candidate Marine Le Pen has a hope of winning the presidential vote.

The poll also showed a hard-left candidate surging to third place for the April 22 first election round, overtaking far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

The far-right candidate in Brazil's presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro, remains in a "grave but stable" condition following his stabbing at a campaign rally on Thursday.

Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro has won a sweeping victory in Brazil's presidential election.

Far-right candidate Norbert Hofer has lost Austria's presidential election to former Greens leader Alexander Van der Bellen.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, a longtime admirer, had a friendly meeting with Putin in the Kremlin last week.