Right-wing party storms to win in Austria

Joerg Haider powered his political party to a stunning win in his home province in Austria today, confounding pundits and strengthening the odds for a national comeback for the controversial rightist known for anti-Jewish slurs and a friendship with Saddam Hussein.

With Haider’s Freedom Party polling more than 10 percentage points behind the Socialists just weeks before the elections in Carinthia province, most had predicted another Freedom Party loss after a string of defeats elsewhere over the past two years.