Word: haider
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Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider, who was killed in a car crash in his home province of Carinthia very early on Saturday morning, was his native country's best-known person, his sharp and perpetually tanned features ubiquitous on television and magazines. He was also Austria's most polarizing figure, with an impact far beyond that country's borders. During a long and checkered career, Haider stood out from the crowd of post-war Austrian politicians with his good looks, athletic lifestyle and devilish talent for provocation. But he was also a populist and demagogue who played...
...Haider, 58, was on his way home from a political event near the provincial capital of Klagenfurt just after 1 A.M. when he lost control of his vehicle on damp pavement while overtaking another car. He skidded off the road and plowed into a concrete pole. The car flipped repeatedly before coming to rest almost 40 yards away, according to police. Haider was wearing a seat belt but died almost instantly of massive injuries to the chest and head, police said. His neck may have been broken and his left arm torn from his body. He is survived...
...Austrians were shocked to wake to the news Saturday. Even political opponents remarked on the huge impact Haider has had on recent Austrian history. Only last month, he had helped Austria's far right mount an unexpected comeback in national elections. The party he led, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, combined with his former party, the Freedom Party, to take 29% of the vote. It was the best showing for Austria's anti-immigrant, anti-Europe right wing since the Second World...
...Freedom Party, meanwhile, saw its support jump by more than half to 18%, and was the outright winner among young Austrians under the age of 30. Haider, who broke with the Freedom Party to form his own Alliance for the Future of Austria in 2005, doubled his support in the few weeks immediately preceding the polls to garner an unexpected 11%. Within the 183-seat parliament, the Freedom Party is projected to take 35 seats, up from 21, while Haider's party is expected to get 21, up from just...
...months. Both big mainstream parties have vowed that they will not form a coalition with the far right, but given the strength of those parties' showing, and the weakness of Austria's other small parties, including the Greens, commentators are not ruling anything out. For his part, Haider said after the vote that the two far-right parties should consider papering over their differences and joining forces. "Voters now expect us to do something for Austria," he said. "They do not want us steeped in animosity and fighting each other." During the campaign Haider, 58, eschewed his formerly harsh anti...