Waldheim Has Edge on Eve of Austrian Vote

Former U.N. Chief Kurt Waldheim, surrounded by banners, balloons and flowers, today held the final rally of an Austrian presidential election campaign overshadowed by accusations that he concealed a Nazi past.

Waldheim chose St. Stephen’s Square, in the center of the Austrian capital, for the climax of his campaign tour for Sunday’s elections.

In 1971 he was soundly defeated in a presidential vote. This time--despite two months of allegations that he was involved in wartime atrocities by Hitler’s army--every opinion poll puts him ahead.

At the rally, Waldheim, 67, promised supporters a new era of achievement, respectability and moral rearmament.

The crowd, estimated by police at 3,000 and by the conservative People’s Party which backs Waldheim at 20,000, roared approval as he said he was innocent of all charges and a “respectable soldier” like thousands of fellow Austrians.

“Young people will not allow their fathers and grandfathers to be dragged in the dirt,” he said from a podium shared by his wife, Elisabeth, and prominent People’s Party politicians.

Members of the crowd questioned by Reuters did not believe any of the allegations against Waldheim.

“The fact that he was head of the United Nations for 10 years says it all. If there was anything against him, he would never have got there,” said one.