[pp.int.general] Österreich: Jorger Haider's death, what now?

[Max Lalouschek | Piratenpartei Österreic]

Hey!

Yeah, wow, what a day. The message that he died... you know that is 
something you just don't believe when you hear about it. There aren't 
many occasions where you think "That is just too good to be true"... but 
in this case... wow. I really hated him... he made populistic right-wing 
ideas fashionable in Austria.

But at least Haider was usefull for one thing... he proofed that driving 
too fast will kill you. I'm glad he pointed that out for us.

So...

What does that mean for his party BZÖ? It is very likely that they will 
merge with FPÖ again (they only split from FPÖ because Haider wanted his 
own party... and the people only voted the party because of Haider).

Haider was the governor of the state Carinthia. He was their hero in the 
fight against the Slovene minority living there. In our last elections 
the BZÖ got 38,5% in Carinthia (in other states max. 12%). The question 
is, which party will these voters vote next time? My guess is that many 
will turn to FPÖ again, unless the other parties find a good way to 
solve the problem Carinthias have with the Slovene minority. But that is 
very unlikely.

What does that mean for FPÖ? Haiders death is great news for them. They 
know that the BZÖ is out of options now and that most of the voters of 
the BZÖ will turn to them again. If there were elections now, I guess 
FPÖ would get at least 25%.

So in the end it just means a shift from one populistic right-wing party 
to another. Haiders death comes years too late to cripple the movement 
because Strache, leader of the FPÖ, has proven to be a good replacement.

With a bigger FPÖ, chances also rise that the conservatives will form a 
coalition with them, because now there isn't the question any more 
whether FPÖ and BZÖ would be able to work together.

Oh and how will he be remembered? Depends where you live.
In Carinthia he will be probably remembered as some kind of martyr.
In the rest of Austria... well, he was a good sepaker, nobody can deny 
that, not even me. He knew how to mobilize the people better than any 
other politican. He always said what people wanted to hear and many good 
things about the third reich. Still, he totally failed when his party 
was part of the government.
To sum it up, most people probably remember him as a perfect speaker, 
who could have done so much good with his ability, if only he wasn't 
member of the wrong party.

I will keep you updated as soon as it becomes clear which kind of 
coalition Austria has to face.

Ciao!

Max


Valentin Villenave schrieb:
> Greetings,
>
> I've just read about Jörg Haider's death in a car accident yesterday;
> since there are several Austrian pirates on the list, I'd like to know
> if there's anything to be said or commented about this event:
> is this likely to change anything as far as Austria's political future
> is concerned?
> How will he be remembered among the population?
> How does that affect the government, the ultra-right wing, and the
> future of democracy in Austria?
>
> Regards,
> Valentin
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