THE TELEGRAPH: Austria's far-Right has become the country's most powerful political force in an election that gave mainstream parities their lowest level of support since the Second World War.
According to early poll results, leaders of the country's two far-Right parties who had campaigned on anti-immigrant and anti-European Union platforms, took almost 30 per cent of the vote to deliver a stunning blow to Austria's political establishment.
The Freedom Party, headed by Heinz-Christian Strache, who was accused of xenophobia during the election campaign, took 18.4 per cent of the vote.
A new far-Right party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, founded by Jorg Haider, Mr Strache's former mentor before a 2005 split from the Freedom Party, won 9.7 per cent of the vote.
The election has been a catastrophe for Austria's moderate parties, with the centrist Social Democrats capturing only 29.5 percent and the conservative People's Party taking only 26 per cent of the vote.
Both parties, which have ruled Austria either alone or in coalition since the end of the Second World War, faced the worst election results in their history as their votes dropped under 30 per cent each for the first time.
Austrians went to the polls after a "grand coalition" between the Social Democrats and the People's Party collapsed after 18 months of a government that was paralysed by constant disputes and rifts.
Most Austrian commentators expect that the Social Democrats will try tod form a new government by either attempting to revive the grand coalition or by entering into a deal with the far-Right, a move that could provoke international condemnation. Austria Election Delivers Gains for Far-Right >>> By Andreas Sam in Vienna and Bruno Waterfield | September 28, 2008
FORBES:
Austria Far Right Surges to Historic High: VIENNA - The far right surged to almost a third of the vote in Austria's parliamentary election on Sunday, complicating prospects for the biggest mainstream party, the Social Democrats, to forge a stable governing coalition. >>> Reuters | September 28, 2008
EURO NEWS:
Haider Blames EU Interference for Austria’s Isolation in 2000 >>> | September 17, 2008
NEWS 24:
Austria Swings to the Right: Vienna - Austria veered sharply to the right in snap Parliamentary elections on Sunday, with its two ruling parties each losing significant ground to the far-right, preliminary estimates showed. >>> SA | September 28, 2008
STUFF.CO.NZ:
Rightists Surge, Main Parties Sag in Austria Vote >>> Reuters | September 29, 2008
AFP:
Austria Swings to the Right in Snap Elections: VIENNA — Austria's two ruling parties, the Social Democrats and conservatives, received a severe drubbing in a snap general election here Sunday, which was marked by a resurgence of the far-right. >>> | September 28. 2008
TIMESONLINE:
Heinz Christian Strache: … people were scared to see women in burkas running around “like female Ninjas”. “Many decent people have come here and they integrated: Poles, Hungarians, Croats and also Serbs. We are all European brothers because we do not want to become Islamised.”
His disdain for Islam and Muslim customs even extends to culinary matters, demanding that “one should not roast mutton in council flats. I would also not grill a wild pig in Istanbul.” >>> Bojan Pancevski in Vienna | September 29, 2008
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