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Austrian far-right leader Haider 'dies in car crash'

by Rachel Nixon | October 10, 2008 at 08:43 pm

947 views | 11 Recommendations | 5 comments

Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider has been killed in a car accident, according to a report from the APA news agency.

"The governor of Carinthia and leader of the BZOe (Alliance for Austria's Future) Joerg Haider died after a car accident early Saturday in Klagenfurt", the capital of his home state, the agency said.

Haider, 58, was at the wheel of his official car in the south of Klagenfurt when it veered off the road for unknown reasons.

He suffered serious injuries to his head and chest and died shortly after the accident, APA added.

Haider, Austria's most notorious post-war politician, headed the Alliance for Austria's Future after turning the country's Freedom Party (FPOe) into a political force in the 1980s and 1990s and prompting EU sanctions against Austria in 2000.

According to Austria's Der Standard, police said that Haider, driving a VW Phaeton, had overtaken another car shortly before the crash. The female driver of the other car reported the crash. You can read the original report here (in German).

Haider was a controversial and often divisive figure.

In 1991, his term as governor of the province of Carinthia was interrupted, after he made comments praising employment policies of Nazi Germany.

But he was re-elected in 1999 and 2003.

In 2000, the EU imposed sanctions against Austria in a protest over his party's role in government.

In 2005, Haider founded the Alliance for Austria's Future, which scored its best result so far in recent elections, gaining 11% of the vote.

This was, however, well below the 27% which the Freedom Party won under his leadership in 1999 - a high mark in Haider's electoral career at national level.

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rahul

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 22:21 on October 10th, 2008

Rachel Nixon, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Fairbanks

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 08:34 on October 11th, 2008

Was he considered to be a neo-NAZI?

Rachel Nixon

at 08:49 on October 11th, 2008

Thanks for the flag. It's certainly true that Haider came under fire for his pro-Nazi comments. Here's an obituary that explains more about his politics.

SOLARLIFE

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 02:53 on October 12th, 2008

Rachel Nixon, I like this story. VW Phaeton, could not resist, why ?

Haider's political car accident, no snow, car looks like Lady Diana case Paris. The secret services like CIA, Mossad, M6 are specialised to kill unwanted leaders by GPS triggered prepared car accidents. At a certain choosen point the electronic control systems of a car antibrake / stability are turned into contrary action to destabilise the car and crack into a preselected obstacle. Haider was in front of winning the Elections in world crisis time. He was the last to visit Saddam Hussein before he got murdered for the prize of Petrol. To say someone is a rightwing would mean first remove the top criminal to rob the world, the Bush clan.

Florian Warum (not verified)

at 03:06 on November 4th, 2008

Hi from Austria!

I also was not really a friend of Jörg Haider. But to say, that he has been an neo-nazi, ist just a bit overstated. He was the onliest politican in austria who had an ear at the people. He really spoke always more radical, but he is the smaller problem like political parties like VLAAMS BLOK in belgium, FORZA NOVA in italy oder NPD and DVU in germany. The last to mentioned parties are in regional parliaments in germany and I think, these are more bigger problems than Jörg Haider. And what about Silvio Berlusconi in italy? If any journalist ist writing to critical about him and his work, he gets eleminated from this job. Is this ok? And something more: It cannot be right, that 30 % of the austrian people are far right, just because they elected a person/a partie, who is listening to the problems of the people.