The future of Austria's ruling coalition hung in the balance last night after Mr Jorg Haider's far-right Freedom Party made big gains in yesterday's election to become the country's second largest party. Chancellor Viktor Klima's Social Democrats remain the largest party but their vote fell by 5 per cent to just 33 per cent - the party's worst result since the end of the second World War.
The Freedom Party saw its share of the vote increase by more than 5 per cent to 27.2 per cent, half a percentage point ahead of the conservative People's Party. The Greens increased their vote to 7 per cent but the tiny Liberal Party lost all its seats.
The gap between the People's Party and the Freedom Party was so narrow that their positions could yet be reversed after postal votes are counted today.
Mr Klima acknowledged that the result raised questions about the future of his party's coalition with the People's Party but insisted he would still attempt to form a government.
"This is a serious warning for the Social Democrats, but we are still the strongest party," he said.
The People's Party announced before the election that if it fell into third place, it would go into opposition rather than attempt to revive the grand coalition that has governed Austria since 1987. The conservatives have not ruled out forming a coalition with the Freedom Party but their leader, the Foreign Minister Mr Wolfgang Schussel, is understood to oppose such an alliance.
Yesterday's result was the best yet for the far-right party and for Mr Haider, who has gained international notoriety on account of his admiration for Hitler's employment policies and praise for SS veterans.
"The era of excluding the Freedom Party is at an end," he said last night.
The 49-year-old populist fought a slick campaign, promising generous child benefits and a flat rate of income tax for all. However, he has not abandoned xenophobic rhetoric and some of his party's campaign posters were openly racist, calling for "real Austrians" to be put first.
The two governing parties spent much of the campaign bickering over everything from pensions to Austria's military neutrality, allowing Mr Haider to present himself as a fresh alternative to a tired coalition.
Although Austria enjoys the third lowest unemployment rate in Europe with practically no inflation, the far-right party was able to tap into a deep well of popular dissatisfaction with the two big parties that have, in one combination or another, governed the country for half a century.
"We have achieved a historic result. It was a clear vote against socialism and for political renewal," said the Freedom Party's general secretary, Mr Peter Westenthaler.
President Thomas Klestil will ask the Chancellor, as leader of the largest party, to attempt to form a government. Mr Klima has ruled out sharing power with the far right, so that his only chance of securing a majority is by continuing his present coalition with the People's Party.
If the chancellor fails to persuade the conservatives to join him, the president will call on Mr Haider, as leader of the second largest party, to attempt to form a government.
"I hope Jorg Haider will come to Vienna. It is very important for this country that Haider becomes chancellor," said Mr Thomas Prinzhorn, a leading Freedom Party candidate.
Some members of the People's Party are keen to maintain the present arrangement but others believe they could enhance their position by forming a coalition with Mr Haider. Mr Schussel claimed last night that although his party's vote fell by 1 per cent, the result was a victory.
He is likely to use the People's Party's crucial position to secure an attractive deal from one of the bigger parties, and some Freedom Party officials have hinted that Mr Haider may be willing to allow a conservative to become chancellor of a new coalition government.
Should Mr Haider become chancellor, all immigration to Austria would be halted and foreigners who broke the law would be deported without delay. Austrians would be given the first choice of all jobs and the children of foreigners would be segregated in schools.
Mr Haider wants to abolish all public subsidies for the arts and to curb the power of the media.
A Haider-ruled Austria would have consequences for the EU too, in view of the right-wing Eurosceptic's promise to veto plans to invite central and eastern European countries to join.
But the most striking consequence of a victory for the far right would be the likelihood of a return to the international isolation imposed on Austria during the presidency of Mr Kurt Waldheim, who was accused of participating in Nazi atrocities.
AFP adds:
Mr Haider has courted controversy about the Nazi era on several occasions, including:
1991: he was forced to resign as governor of the southern province of Carinthia after stating that "in the Third Reich they had a sound employment policy".
1995: he told SS veterans they were "a part of the German army which should be honoured". He described Nazi concentration camps as "punishment camps".
1998: he compared the deportation of Jews by the Nazis to the expulsion of Sudeten Germans after the war.