World

Austria's Haider Takes A Hit

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 26, 2001 / 9:15 AM EST / CBS

In the latest political setback for Europe's far-right parties within a month,
Austria's Freedom Party led by the controversial Joerg Haider got routed in elections for Vienna's city hall over the weekend.

Coming in second behind Austria's Socialists, the Freedom Party fell nearly eight percentage points from its showing in the last municipal elections five years ago, according to unofficial final results of Sunday's vote.

While the balloting was restricted to Vienna, the results also appeared to reflect a loss in popularity nationwide for Haider's party, which lost support in October and December in two provincial elections.

Leading members of other parties linked the loss of the Freedom Party's popularity to inflammatory statements made by Haider during the election campaign that many criticized as anti-Semitic, as well as the party's attempt to exploit anti-foreigner sentiment.

"Vienna is a city that is international, with no place for anti-Semitism and xenophobia," Mayor Michael Haupl, a Socialist, told supporters.

Alfred Gusenbauer, the national head of the Socialist Party, echoed that victory rhetoric.

"The whole world has seen that if someone makes anti-Semitism into a political theme, then the Viennese say a clear 'no' to such politics," he said.

Haider, who provoked an outcry with his comments that local Jewish leader Ariel Muzicant had "dirt on his hands," remained out of the spotlight on Monday. His spokesman, Karl-Heinz Petritz, told the Austria Press Agency that Haider would comment on the election results on Tuesday.

The Socialists, who finished first in Vienna on Sunday, gained as much ground as the Freedom Party lost, drawing 46.8 percent of the ballots overall. The centrist People's Party finished third with 16.4 percent, a slight gain. Finally, the environmentalist Greens captured 12.45 percent, a four point increase over 1996.

On the national level, the Freedom Party was propelled into the Austrian government coalition in February 2000 after winning a stunning 29 percent in national elections. European Union sanctions imposed to protest its participation in the coalition government were lifted in September, having accomplished little except generate a strong anti EU-backlash in Austria.

Lately though, Austrian voters appear disillusioned with their national government in general, because of its cuts in social benefits and unpopular tax legislation. Freedom Party scandals as well as bumbled performances by some of its ministers likely hurt the party, as well.

Seeking to rebound in the Vienna vote, Haider and his party invoked some of the themes of anti-Semitism and racism that worked so well in the last national campaign. The governor of Carinthia province who became notorious years ago for praising some aspects of the Nazi era, Haide did not run for a seat in the Vienna election.

Ahead of Sunday's vote, Haider had suggested Haupl's election campaign was anti-Viennese because one of his advisers was an American Jew "from the East Coast" - alluding to a perceived Jewish dominance of the northeastern United States.

The Freedom Party also tried to exploit Austrian suspicions of foreigners and fears that hordes from Eastern Europe will overrun their country once former Soviet-bloc countries join the European Union.

Far-right parties in Germany and France also suffered setbacks earlier this month, but political analysts say this does not mean they are a spent force.

Over the weekend, Germany's Republicans fell below the five percent minimum to claim any seats in the regional parliament in the large southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

A few weeks ago, France's municipal elections saw that country's far right, once a serious movement with about 15 percent support nationally, fade as an important factor in most cities because of its internal splits and squabbles.

But the factors at play differed in each case and Patrick Moreau, a political science professor at the University of Munich, said it's impossible to speak of a European trend.

"It is very different from country to country," he said. "The Freedom Party is a very stable, powerful party, the Republicans are kaput, and the French right is looking for a new home. There is no trend."

Far-right extremist groups are active in countries such as Denmark, Sweden, and Belgium but there are almost no such organized groups in Spain and Portugal, Moreau said.

Non-violent parties on the far right can count on continued electoral support in France and other countries, he added.

"A certain type of party is enjoying success at the moment: national-populist parties with hardly any extremist dimension."