Conservative Schuessel bests Haider in Austrian polls

THE conservative party of Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel surged to emerge strongest in Austria’s general elections yesterday, according to preliminary results that showed right-winger Joerg Haider’s party took a pounding.

With just over 35% of the votes counted, Mr Schuessel’s People’s Party captured over 43%, a more than 16 percentage-point increase over its last showing in the 1999 polls, according to the results released by state television.

Mr Haider’s Freedom Party, coalition partners with Mr Schuessel’s conservatives, stood at just over 10%, down almost two-thirds from the 27% captured in the last elections.