THE INDEPENDENT: Conservative Austria was in a state of shock today after the male successor to Jörg Haider admitted to having a longstanding “special relationship” with the far right leader who died dramatically in a high speed car crash earlier this month.
Stefan Petzner – the 27-year-old who recently replaced Haider as leader of the right wing Alliance for the Future of Austria and has often appeared in tears on television since his death - effectively outed himself as the deceased’s gay lover while being interviewed on an Austrian radio breakfast show.
“I had to go to him. I had to go to him,” Mr Petzner said in his highly emotional interview as he recalled how he rushed to the hospital where the dead body of 52-year-old* [sic] Haider was lying after his fatal crash in early October.
Admitting that he felt a “magnetic attraction” for Haider, whom he met five years ago while working as a cosmetics reporter, Mr Petzner insisted: “We had a relationship that went far beyond friendship. Jörg and I were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life.”
He insisted that Mr Haider’s widow, Claudia did not object to his relationship: “She loved him as a woman. He loved her as a man. I loved him in a completely different and personal way. She understood that,” Mr Petzner said. However, the young man’s sister Christiane suggested in a newspaper interview that Mrs Haider had not always been so understanding. “Sometimes Claudia was jealous because Stefan would spend more time with her husband than she did.”
Clearly embarrassed by the revelations, party officials today attempted to limit the political damage and cancelled forthcoming interviews with Mr Petzner. Their attempts to prevent his radio interview being rebroadcast, however, were unsuccessful. >>> By Tony Paterson in Berlin | October 22, 2008
*Jörg Haider was actually born in 1950.
YouTube Video: Stefan Petzner: Jörg Haider ist tot
DIE PRESSE: Neuer BZÖ-Klubchef Bucher: Kampfansage an ÖVP
Knalleffekt in der Obmannsuche: Der 43-jährige Kärntner Josef Bucher wird überraschend neuer BZÖ-Klubchef. Der designierte Parteichef Stefan Petzner hatte Bucher selbst vorgeschlagen.
Am Ende der längeren konstituierenden Sitzung im Parlament des BZÖ am Mittwoch stand eine faustdicke Überraschung: Josef Buchner, 43-jähriger Kärntner aus Friesach wurde einstimmig zum neuen Klubobmann gewählt. Bucher wird fünf Stellvertreter haben: Den designierten BZÖ-Obmann Stefan Petzner, Ursula Haubner, Herbert Scheibner, Ewald Stadler und Peter Westenthaler. Petzner, der als Favorit galt, sagte nach der Sitzung, er selbst habe Bucher als Klubobmann vorgeschlagen.
"Ich glaube, dass wir uns sehr gut ergänzen", so Bucher über Petzner. Der neue Klubchef sieht in der Trennung der beiden Führungspositionen "überhaupt nichts Ungewöhnliches". Petzner sei als Stratege unverzichtbar, vor allem, da es in den kommenden Jahren einige Wahlen zu schlagen gebe. Petzner wiederum würdigte Bucher als Wirtschaftsprofi, der gerade in Zeiten der Finanzkrise absolutes Know-how vorzuweisen habe. >>> | 23. Oktober 2008
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