Alliance for the Future of Austria leader, Joerg Haider votes

Описание: (28 Sep 2008)
1. Alliance for the Future of Austria leader Joerg Haider walking into polling station
2. Haider greeting people and then registering
3. Haider emerging from booth and then voting
4. Haider posing with ballot
5. Media talking to Haider
6. Haider kissing his wife
7. Haider's car leaving
STORYLINE:
Alliance for the Future of Austria leader Joerg Haider voted on Sunday in parliamentary elections that analysts say could bolster the standing of the country's far-right and give the main ruling parties their worst results in years.
The governing coalition of the conservative People's Party and the centre-left Social Democrats crumbled in July after months of bickering. What followed was a summer-long election campaign involving 10 parties on a national level. Four less-known groups are on the ballot in several districts.
On the eve of Sunday's election, the two power-sharing blocs were running neck and neck for the top spot. But neither look likely to secure an absolute majority.
Instead, experts said disgruntled voters may reach out, largely in protest, to the rightist Freedom Party and Alliance for the Future of Austria: groups known for their populist, anti-immigration rhetoric.
Some 6.3 (m) million people are eligible to vote, including 16- and 17-year-olds under a new law that dropped the minimum voting age. In total, 183 seats in parliament are to be filled.
Recent polls predict the Freedom Party will come in third behind the two main parties with about 18 percent of the vote. They show that the Alliance for the Future of Austria, could double its 4 percent result in 2006 elections.
In 1999, Haider, then leader of the Freedom Party, raked in 27 percent of the vote. His party's subsequent inclusion in the government, despite international alarm over statements seen as anti-Semitic or sympathetic to Adolf Hitler's labour policies, triggered months of European Union sanctions.
Haider has since toned down his rhetoric and generally appears more moderate. Not so the other leading rightist, Heinz-Christian Strache of the Freedom Party, whose campaign has been laced with anti-Islamic statements such as "the minaret has no place in Austria."
His supporters contend he is not a racist and argue he is the only politician representing the concerns and interests of ordinary Austrians.
Despite the right's predicted gains, analysts say it was unclear whether they would become part of the next governing coalition.
Strache said on Sunday that he hoped to come third in the elections, ahead of the Greens.
Postal votes could also be crucial to the outcome, with voters able to send them until October 6, when final results are expected.

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