AUSTRIA: Rumours of Jörg Haider's political demise have, once again, proven exaggerated after his Freedom Party (FPÖ) held steady in elections in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia yesterday.
Political analysts had predicted that voters would shun Mr Haider in the poll, prompting horrified speculation that he would return to national politics in Vienna and destabilise the ruling coalition. But Mr Haider was last night likely to remain on as governor of Carinthia, though the ruling coalition in Vienna could still falter after a collapse in support for the People's Party (ÖVP) of Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel.
While the right-wing FPÖ held steady as the most popular party in Carinthia with 42 per cent of the vote, the ÖVP lost nearly 10 per cent support, with the most of it going to the Social Democrats (SPÖ) .
The FPÖ performed badly in a second election in Salzburg, halving its support, but the ÖVP fared even worse, losing control of the city for the first time since 1945 after a landslide victory for the SPÖ.
Yesterday's regional election in Carinthia halted, if not quite reversed, a general election trend two years ago when the FPÖ was deserted by two-thirds of its voters. Mr Haider called the result a "huge vote of confidence" and said he planned to stay put in Carinthia. Mr Wilhelm Molterer, deputy representative of the ÖVP, said the results were "not pleasant".
SPÖ leaders said that they didn't believe either man and that the ÖVP's poor showing meant Mr Schüssel was at the mercy of the Freedom Party and Mr Haider more than ever. "The losses of the ÖVP will lead to even greater instability in the federal coalition," said Mr Norbert Darabos, a leading SPÖ official.