Waldheim Doubles Lead, Austrian Poll Says

Former U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim has increased to 8% from 4% his leading margin in Austria’s presidential campaign since allegations that he belonged to Nazi groups, according to an opinion poll published Saturday.

The conservative Waldheim was favored by 42% of Austrians polled. Socialist Party candidate Kurt Steyrer was backed by 34%, a margin of eight percentage points. The poll was taken by the Fissel Institute, an organization close to Waldheim’s People’s Party. Previous figures were 38% and 34%, respectively.

On Saturday, the People’s Party secretary general, Michael Graff, charged that a person close to the leadership of the governing Socialist Party had organized a “trash can campaign” against Waldheim. He said a prominent person in the Socialist campaign “suggested, in appropriate contacts with journalists already weeks ago, that with a certain timing, an action was being prepared” against Waldheim. He offered no details or other proof.

Waldheim, 67, is accused of membership in the Nazi Party’s Storm Troopers and of having served in a German army group that committed war crimes in the Balkans. He has dismissed both allegations.