Austrian rightist leader dies in car accident

VIENNA, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Governor of the southern Austrian state of Carinthia (Kaernten) and chief of the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZOe) Joerg Haider died in a car accident in the early hours of Saturday at the age of 58.

Haider was on his way home in his official car after having attended an activity when the accident happened. He suffered severe head and chest injuries and was killed shortly after the accident, Austrian Television ORF said on Saturday morning.

The cause of the accident is not clear so far. The accident was reported to police at 1:18 (23:18 GMT) on early Saturday morning. When police arrived at the scene, Haider's car was found on the right side of the road, having flipped over several times and beenalmost totally damaged.

Haider is married and has two daughters. Austrian President, Chancellor and all the other party leaders in the congress have all expressed their condolences for Haider's unexpected death.

Haider is the most famous right-wing figure in Austrian politics. He was the president of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPOe) from 1986 to 2000, which was considered to be with Nazi background. He advocated anti-immigration policy and defended the employment policy of Nazi Germany.

The FPOe, under Haider's leadership, won 27 percent of the total votes in 1999 general election, becoming the second largest party of Austria, and formed a grand coalition government with the Austrian People's Party (OeVP) in February 2000.

Although Haider didn't enter Austrian federal government due to condemnations from both within and out of the country, the right-wing parties represented by him shocked the world by gaining much power in Austria.

Haider was now head of the BZOe, which was split from the FPOe. The BZOe won 21 of the 183 seats in the Austrian congress, becoming the fourth largest party of Austria in the general elections on Sept. 28.