Haider's far right party suffer losses in Austria

The conservative party of Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel surged to emerge strongest from general elections in Austria today, according to preliminary results that showed a pounding at the polls for the party of right-wing Joerg Haider.

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