AUSTRIA: Austrian voters can be sure of one thing when they go to the polls tomorrow: they are unlikely to be demonised as they were three years ago after they voted the far-right Freedom Party into power.
Today the Freedom Party (FPÖ) is a spent political force, riven with infighting and intrigue, and seems destined for the opposition benches.
But there are few other certainties ahead of tomorrow's poll, which pollsters say is heading for a photo-finish between the two largest parties. The People's Party (ÖVP) of the Chancellor, Mr Wolfgang Schüssel, and the Social Democrats (SPÖ) are neck-and-neck in the opinion polls with 35 per cent support each.
The expected poor showing of the FPÖ - expected to capture just 12 per cent of the poll, half its 1999 showing - could dash Mr Schüssel's hopes of leading his coalition with the FPÖ into a second term.
Former FPÖ leader Mr Jörg Haider has made clear on the campaign trail that taking office was a disaster for his party. After taking office, the government faced an international outcry and was shunned diplomatically for months. Mr Haider resigned as leader partly to calm the storm, but grew increasingly impatient ruling the party from behind the scenes from the state of Carinthia, where he is governor.
He is likely to emerge the biggest loser from tomorrow's election, which he precipitated after undermining the credibility of Ms Susanne Riess-Passer, the vice-chancellor and his successor as FPÖ leader.
She resigned last September and the party's other star, Finance Minister Mr Karl-Heinz Grasser, defected to run as an Independent candidate after Mr Schüssel promised to allow him to remain finance minister in his next administration, regardless of the FPÖ's fortunes.
As well as stealing the FPÖ's Finance Minister, Mr Schüssel has stolen many of the party's politics, offering voters a tough right-wing stance on immigration, for example, without any of the unappetising Haider aftertaste.
However, the hue of the new Austrian government is more than just a numbers game. Voters would most favour a grand coalition of ÖVP and SPÖ, according to opinion polls, but only Mr Schüssel is considering that scenario.
SPÖ leaders have not forgiven him for shafting them in 1999, breaking the 13-year grand coalition in favour of an alliance with the Freedom Party. Instead, the SPÖ hopes to increase its support back to its pre-1999 levels and could end up forming a coalition with the Green Party.
