Austrian far-right leader Mr Joerg Haider has withdrawn his offer to resign as governor of the southern province of Carinthia following his party's dismal showing in weekend elections.
Mr Haider made the announcement after a meeting of the Carinthian branch of his Freedom Party (FPOe) last night.
"I personally assume a large part of the responsibility for the poor election results. That is why it would be logical for me to resign. But my party colleagues did not accept this," Mr Haider said.
Mr Haider yesterday announced plans to resign as governor of Carinthia, a Freedom Party stronghold that lost support to the conservative People's Party (OeVP) of Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel.
The anti-immigrant, anti-Europe nationalist, whose party's entry into government in 2000 sent shockwaves across Europe, said he could not continue working when the "people of Carinthia have shown so much confidence in the other parties".
The Freedom Party scored only 10.2 per cent of the national vote on Sunday, losing almost two-thirds of the nearly 27 per cent it won in the general election in 1999.
In Carinthia, the Freedom Party (FPOe) lost 15 per cent support, plummeting from first to third place with just 24 per cent of the vote behind the People's Party (OeVP) and the Social Democratic Party.
"It is a vote of no confidence in me and in my policies," said Mr Haider, who quit as the official Freedom Party leader in May 2000 but remains its driving force.
AFP