Vienna - Austria's right-wing populist Alliance for the Future of Austria party on Sunday named Stefan Petzner as it new leader following the death of Joerg Haider on Saturday, the Austrian news agency (APA) reported. Petzner, 27, had been Haider's spokesman since 2004.
Haider died in a car accident early on Saturday near Klagenfurt, capital of Carinthia, when the car he was driving veered off the road after passing another vehicle. It then hit several obstacles, including a concrete foundation of a fence, and flipped over several times.
"They are big shoes to fill, but I will keep moving, not stumble," Petzner was quoted as saying. On Saturday he had reacted to the news of Haider's death, saying, "For us, this is like the end of the world."
In parliamentary elections in late September, the populist Alliance won almost 11 per cent of the ballots, nearly doubling its votes from the previous elections in 2006.
Haider's party split in 2005 from the Freedom Party, which gained prominence under Haider's leadership in the 1980s and 90s. The two parties could have potentially formed part of a coalition government had their respective leaders not been rivals.
A reunification of the two parties in the wake of Haider's death is not thus far on the cards.
