mmmm...haider again


Austrian far-right figurehead Joerg Haider has won a surprise electoral victory in his home province of
Carinthia, strengthening his grip on an ailing party and his influence on the coalition government.

A provisional result showed his Freedom Party had clearly beaten its Socialist rival in a vote that should see Haider remain governor of
Carinthia and undisputed strongman of a party which has suffered a series of electoral defeats.

The provisional count, reported on Austrian state television, showed the Freedom Party had won 42.5 percent of the vote, improving on the
42.0 percent it won in 1999. The Socialist Party had 38.4 percent.

Opinion polls earlier had placed Haider's party second, roughly three percentage points behind the Socialists.

But the charismatic nationalist, who has in the past provoked uproar by praising Nazi employment policy and Iraq's Saddam Hussein,
appeared to say his victory would not spur him back into national politics.

"They (Carinthians) want to have this governor and he won't be fleeting and go elsewhere," he told Austrian state TV.

While the result boosts Haider's authority in his party and in Vienna, few expect a return to his heyday of four years ago, when he stunned
Europe by taking his anti-immigration party into the national government.

Haider then swiftly quit as party chairman after EU partners imposed diplomatic sanctions on conservative Chancellor Wolfgang
Schuessel's coalition. He has remained a power behind the scenes but the party has slumped in national popularity.

Much of the 27 percent of the vote it scored in the 1999 general election has evaporated. It took just 10 percent in 2002 but remains the
junior partner in Schuessel's government.

LOCAL, NOT NATIONAL SUCCESS

Analysts said Haider was unlikely to move out of regional politics officially as his party's success was confined to his province, one of nine
in Austria.

A partial count in Salzburg's regional election, which was also held on Sunday, showed support for the Freedom Party fell by more than half
to 8.7 percent. Last September, Haider's allies won less than 10 percent of votes in two other provincial polls.

"It might be a comeback, but it's not a national trend for the Freedom Party," said Peter Ulram of the Fessel-GFK think-tank.

To become governor, Haider must win the support of at least one other party in the newly elected regional asssembly. Analysts said that
was likely.