TVNZ: Austria's far-right Freedom Party is ready to re-enter government after three and a half years in opposition and the two main parties must decide if they will do business with it after this month's election, its leader Heinz-Christian Strache says.
When Freedom first joined a national government in 2000 under then party boss Joerg Haider, its anti-immigrant stance so alarmed Austria's European Union partners that they briefly ceased co-operation with the Alpine member state.
Haider has since left to form a splinter party.
But Freedom, which rails against the EU and has demanded a halt to immigration and a ministry for repatriating foreigners, is polling around 18% and could play an important role after the September 28 election.
At 28% and 26% respectively in the latest poll, the Social Democrats and conservative People's Party - partners in an unhappy coalition which has survived less than two years - are set to win less than 60% combined for the first time since World War Two.
"Which partner is ready to enter into government with us while letting us keep our true values?" Strache said in the interview next to a rain-sodden campaign stand, encircled by young and middle-aged men.
"When there is a partner like this then it makes sense to be in government. When there is no partner it makes no sense," he said, as supporters took pictures of him on their mobile phones.
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The coalition between the centre-left Social Democrats and centre-right Austrian People's Party collapsed in July following disagreements about everything from privatisation to health reform to European Union policy.
"Both have said they can't bear to enter into a coalition with Freedom," Strache said, adding that he wants his party to become the third-largest in Austria in the election, ahead of the environmentalist Greens.
Strache, a 39-year-old former dental technician, has put Freedom back on a hard-right path after Haider left to form the rival Alliance for Austria's Future in 2005. Austrian Far-Right in Comeback >>> | September 17, 2008
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