Far-right Austrian party wins regional elections

Toronto Star ^ | 08 March 2004 | John Burgess

[MegaSilver]

Home province of leader Haider

National support peaked in 1999

BERLIN—The party of the Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider won regional assembly elections in his home province of Carinthia yesterday, a result likely to give Haider a new term as governor of the province and renewed influence in Austrian politics.

Haider's Freedom Party took 42.4 per cent of the vote, compared with just over 38 per cent for the Socialist Party, according to final results.

If Haider can form a coalition with another party, he will become head of the provincial government.

The Freedom Party's fortunes peaked in 1999 when it garnered 27 per cent of the vote in a national election and became part of Austria's coalition government.

The party's platform includes support for deregulation and restrictions on immigration and opposition to the authority of the European Union, of which Austria is a member.

The party's ascent to power in 1999 was criticized by the EU, which applied seven months of diplomatic sanctions against Austria.

Haider resigned as head of the party after the EU's move and focused on Carinthia, where he became governor. Subsequent bickering among senior members of the party helped reduce its popularity — it got only 10 per cent of the vote in national elections in 2002 and has had weak results in recent provincial votes.

Opponents contend the party is anti-foreigner and anti-Semitic, pointing to statements by Haider in which he praised Adolf Hitler's employment policies and Nazi Germany's SS shock troops.

The Freedom Party remains a member of the national government. Though Haider quit as leader of the party, he is widely reported to have major influence on its decisions and has continued to generate controversy. Before the Iraq war, he visited Baghdad on what he called a mission to deliver medicine to Iraqi children and met with Saddam Hussein.

WASHINGTON POST