World Notes Austria

Jorg Haider will not say he is antiforeigner, but rather that he is "native- friendly." Semantics aside, what Haider stands for is abundantly clear to the Viennese, who last week gave his far-right Freedom Party 22.6% of the vote in provincial elections. So popular was Haider's proposal for an immediate halt to immigration into Austria -- there are currently about 500,000 foreigners living in a population of 7.8 million -- that his party displaced the conservative People's Party as the No. 2 power in the state.

; For Haider, the results in Vienna marked the third strong showing of his party at the polls in as many months. It has been a remarkable comeback for someone who was driven from office as governor of the province of Carinthia only last June. Reason: Haider lauded Nazi Germany's "employment policy." The statement was widely interpreted as an endorsement of slave labor and concentration camps. Haider's antiforeigner campaign has struck a chord with Austrians dissatisfied with a government they consider directionless.