Austria: Haider dies as far-right emerges as electoral political force
01 November 2008
The neo-fascist right emerged from Austria’s general election in September with 29% of the vote placing the Freedom Party (
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) and the Alliance for Austria’s Future (
Bündnis Zukunft Österreich, BZÖ) in contention to be the largest political force in the country. The two extremist parties had run an anti-immigrant campaign with the Freedom Party also accused of anti-Muslim racism. The snap elections were called after the People’s Party (ÖVP) pulled out of the governing coalition in July, arguing that it could no longer work with the Social Democrats (SPÖ). Observers feared that one of the establishment parties would be prepared to make a deal with the far-right if they are unable to reach a new agreement amongst themselves, although the death of the BZO’s leader, Jorge Haider, in a drunken car crash shortly after the election has limited their options. The Social Democrats got 29.7% of the vote (58 seats), the People’s Party 25.6% (50 seats), the Freedom Party 18% (35 seats), the Alliance for Austria’s Future 11% (21 seats) and the Greens 9.8% (19 seats).
The combined far-right vote (29%) doubled the tally it obtained in the 2006 election. The Freedom Party’s leader, the Nazi sympathiser, Heinz-Christian Strache, claimed that he was the real winner of the election and talked-up his chances of becoming chancellor in a coalition government. Before his death Haider, the ex-leader of the Freedom Party, who now runs the Alliance for Austria’s Future faction, told the BBC that he predicted that new coalition talks between the Social Democrats and the People’s Party would fail and that he “would have the opportunity to negotiate the government.” Haider was previously in government in 1999 when the Freedom Party gained 27% of the vote. The Social Democrats said that they will not join forces with the extreme right, but the People’s Party has been much less concerned in the past.
In 2000 the EU imposed sanctions on Austria when the FPÖ, then led by Haider, became part of the government coalition. Haider toned down his anti-Semitic statements and sympathy for National Socialism in public, when it resulted in a split in the FPÖ in 2005, and Strache took over the leadership as Haider marched off to form the BZÖ. Under Strache, as with other European far-right organisations, the FPÖ’s overt racism and sympathy for the policies of Adolf Hitler have been played down and replaced with a crude, populist anti-Muslim racism. Nonetheless, he has pledged to revive banned Nazi symbols and he lost a recent court case against a magazine that described him as having neo-Nazi contacts. His election campaign was characterised by the slogan: “No minarets in Austria”. In reality, he has divided foreigners into righteous Christians and those of Muslim backgrounds, calling for a “European brotherhood” to crusade against the perceived Islamisation of Europe. Both of the far-right organisations have called for a ban the building of mosques.
The balance of power between the two extremist parties took a decisive turn in October when Haider died in a car crash on 11 October - after he stormed out of a gay bar following an argument with his protégé, Stefan Petzner; Haider had been planning that the former cosmetics reporter would become a future BZO leader. But Patzner was sacked from the party after making an emotional confession of his “special relationship” with “the man of my life” on Austrian television. Rumours about Haider’s sexuality had been widespread for nearly a decade, but he chose to ignore them, fearing that some of his far-right followers might be alienated. Haider’s death leaves the back door open for Strache to enter into an agreement with the ÖVP if is unable to form a coalition with the SPÖ.
As a possible sign of things to come, police in Traun (near Linz) blamed far-right extremists for the desecration of a Muslim cemetery in the town in the same weekend as the far right made its electoral gains. More than 90 graves were damaged in the attack.
BBC News 29.9.08; Independent 23.10.08