Support for Austria's far-right surged in two regional elections today to prove it still had pulling power despite the death of its charismatic leader Joerg Haider in a car crash.
Alliance for Austria's Future, a far-right populist party founded by Mr Haider, stormed to success in Carinthia, trouncing the centre-left Social Democrats who had appeared neck-and-neck in the polls and who won the national elections last year.
Alliance won more than 45.5 per cent of the vote, while support for the Social Democrats sank by around 10 percentage points to 28.6 per cent.
The Social Democrats also lost votes in Salzburg, although they still came in first at the polls with 39.5 pe rcent, meaning a second term as governor for Gabi Burgstaller.
The far-right was again the main gainer. Support for the Freedom Party, which Mr Haider ran before setting up the splinter party Alliance, rose by 4.3 percentage points to 13 per cent.
"One thing was again confirmed: Austria is at home on the right of the centre," political researcher Peter Hajek told Reuters.
However Alliance, which is a major force only in Carinthia, remained under the threshhold to enter regional parliament in Salzburg.
Reuters