Jubilant Haider Looks For Return To Power Of The Far Right (Austria)

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 3-8-2004 | Michael Leidig

[blam]

Jubilant Haider looks for return to power of the far Right

By Michael Leidig in Vienna
(Filed: 08/03/2004)

Austria's far-Right nationalist Jörg Haider's Freedom Party looked set to grasp a surprise victory in an election in the Alpine province of Carinthia, according to early returns yesterday.

Polls had predicted that Haider might lose his power base but a partial count reported on Austrian state television, based on more than a quarter of votes cast, showed that Mr Haider's party had won 43 per cent of the vote to the Socialist Party's 38 per cent.

Jörg Haider looks set to retain power in Carinthia

Analysts had said a good result for his troubled party after a string of electoral defeats could herald his return to prominence in Austrian politics.

Mr Haider's opponents had emphasised his links to Saddam Hussein and Col Gaddafi by printing billboards showing them with the slogan of the Freedom Party: "We won't get anyone better."

Five years ago Mr Haider's success in the same elections in Carinthia provided the springboard for further victories across the country which culminated with his party coming second in the general election and forming a coalition with the conservative People's Party a year later.

But after the European Union imposed sanctions on Austria over its selection of Mr Haider, his party disintegrated, with bitter in-fighting that saw almost all of his trusted deputies either resigning or changing sides and him resigning as leader.

Elections in November 2002, after the coalition collapsed, devastated the Freedom Party share of the vote, with Mr Haider left clinging to power in Carinthia amid poll predictions of third place in yesterday's vote.

But after the initial results yesterday it was clear that Mr Haider had not only clung on to his success of 1999, but had increased his party's share of the vote by six per cent. Mr Haider is likely to be re-elected governor in a partnership with the conservatives.

Mr Haider predicted before the vote: "For the past five years I have been able to prove that I can find good solutions in difficult situations, while other politicians only tend to show up for easy jobs such as cutting ribbons or visiting buffets."

Mr Haider, 54, a Porsche-driving millionaire, had staked his political reputation on success in Carinthia and pulled out all the stops, from free gifts such as cigarette lighters, watches, ski passes and new cars for party members, to "Haider" teddy bears, sweets for children and roses for women voters.

Promises to tackle worries over pensions were seen as a key aspect of his campaign, mirroring debate on a national level on the subject.

Pensioners will be able to get up to £50 each if they turn up at the parliament building in Klagenfurt once Mr Haider is sworn into office. The Freedom Party defended the move by saying people were not being forced to vote for it.

Before yesterday's election Mr Haider had hinted that a respectable result might be a springboard for his return into national politics.

Yesterday Mr Haider said jubilantly: "No one said we had a chance to be number one again. We proved them wrong. This shows that people in Carinthia value the work of the Freedom Party."

[austinTparty]

Haider is really a despicable fellow. Why don't they just call him what he is: a totalitarian xenophobe, he's no conservative.

[AMDG&BVMH]

"he's no conservative"

Do you think they would vote differently if there were a true/real conservative alternative? Just asking, no dog in this fight.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Haider is really a despicable fellow. Why don't they just call him what he is: a totalitarian xenophobe, he's no conservative.

Actually, Haider is a neo-nazi -- and that is not a term I use lightly; it's also a term a former member of the Reagan administration has used to describe him.

That said, the reason the media call him a "conservative" is that it makes it easier for them to lump us in with the fringe wackos and dismiss us all.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Some of the old Nazi concentraction camps are still standing. Too bad Haider and his Hitler-loving idiots could not be housed in one of these old camps where they could get a feeling for how "great" that lisping demagogue was.

[af_vet_1981]

Actually, Haider is a neo-nazi -- and that is not a term I use lightly; it's also a term a former member of the Reagan administration has used to describe him. That said, the reason the media call him a "conservative" is that it makes it easier for them to lump us in with the fringe wackos and dismiss us all.

This is why I am so glad Pat Buchanan left the Republican Party. We are not saddled with that baggage, although he did not go as far as Haider.

[Guillermo]

Europeans are increasingly disgusted with their new Mohammedan immigrants.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Some of the old Nazi concentraction camps are still standing. Too bad Haider and his Hitler-loving idiots could not be housed in one of these old camps where they could get a feeling for how "great" that lisping demagogue was.

It must suck to be an Austrian -- one can only choose between a nazi and a commie.

[NYC GOP Chick]

This is why I am so glad Pat Buchanan left the Republican Party. We are not saddled with that baggage, although he did not go as far as Haider.

That's why I'm also glad that Pukecanan left the GOP, although some leftists still try to throw him in with us.

[johniegrad]

after the European Union imposed sanctions on Austria over its selection of Mr Haider

Despite his politics, does anyone find this statement disturbing?

[austinTparty]

Yes, he is a neo-nazi, but I try to avoid use of such terms, because they have been so bandied about as to lose all meaning (unfortunately).

[austinTparty]

Yes, possibly, if such a person came out with a real, solid platform. The problem is that populists have it easier, no matter which end of the political spectrum they inhabit, they need only inflame passions rather than propose viable solutions.