AUSTRIA: Mr Jörg Haider, Austria's populist right-wing firebrand, was left looking sheepish yesterday after the candidate he endorsed for president slid to defeat.
What should have been a dull race for a symbolic job became a barometer of the popularity of Mr Haider's Freedom Party after he threw his weight behind Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The Austrian foreign minister had hoped to become the country's first female president. At one point in the campaign, Mr Haider even presented his ally with a live pig, a symbol of good luck in German-speaking countries.
But fortune frowned on the conservative candidate yesterday when she was beaten by Mr Heinz Fischer, a veteran parliamentarian and the deputy parliamentary speaker of the opposition Social Democrats.
Mr Fischer (65) overcame his "grey mouse" image to win 53 per cent of the vote to Ms Ferrero-Waldner's 47 per cent.
Her defeat was also a blow to the government. She is a member of Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel's ruling People's Party and has been foreign minister since 2000. The government, which is halfway through its term, is struggling to maintain its credibility after a series of unpopular reforms.
The president is the nominal head of Austria's tiny army and can sack cabinet ministers, although these powers are rarely used. It is the chancellor who supervises the day-to-day running of the country.
President Thomas Klestil is coming to the end of his second six-year term and is prohibited from running again.
Ms Ferrero-Waldner (55) had cautiously favoured debate on whether the time had come to reconsider the country's 49-year policy of neutrality.
Mr Fischer insisted that neutrality was non-negotiable, while pushing for a "solidarity pact" with the rest of the European Union that would include some kind of military support should the need arise.