Austrians to vent their displeasure

VIENNA - Austrian voters, smarting from welfare cuts, job losses and tax rises, look set to vent their frustration on Chancellor…

VIENNA - Austrian voters, smarting from welfare cuts, job losses and tax rises, look set to vent their frustration on Chancellor Franz Vranitzky's Social Democrats in European parliamentary and Vienna state elections next Sunday.

The far right is likely to pick up many of the protest votes to nudge it towards the 25 per cent mark Mr Jorg Haider has aimed for since he became Freedom Party chief in 1986.

Austria votes for the first time in elections for the European Union's parliament on October 13th, to elect 21 candidates to the Strasbourg based legislature.