Waldheim Wins Plurality, Not Victory

VIENNA, Austria--Kurt Waldheim, the former U.N. secretary general who has been dogged by claims he hid his Nazi past, received the most votes in the Austrian presidential elections yesterday but fell just short of the absolute majority necessary to win the post.

A run-off election will be held June 8 between Waldheim, 67, the conservative People's Party candidate, and Kurt Steyrer, the candidate of the socialists who head the governing coalition.

Interior Minister Karl Blecha announced the results, which were based on 100 percent of the voting districts reporting but described as unofficial.

Waldheim received 2,343,387 votes, or 49.64 percent, and Steyrer had 2,061,162 votes, or 43.7 percent.

Freda Meissner-Blau, the candidate of the environmentalist Greens, won 5.5 percent, and Otto Scrinzi, a pan-German nationalist, received 1.2 percent.

After the results were announced, Waldheim said he expected the controversy over his Nazi past to die down during the next five weeks, "although surely there will be attempts here and there to interfere in the election campaign.

"But do not forget these interventions have come from private organizations and not from governments. I think that must be taken into consideration," Waldheim said, apparently referring to allegations made against him in recent weeks by the World Jewish Congress.

Competition

More than 5.4 million voters were eligible, and turnout was nearly 90 percent. The winner succeeds Rudolf Kirchschlaeger, who is stepping down at the end of two six-year terms as prescribed by law.

The campaign for the presidency, a largely ceremonial post, was the most bitter in Austria's post-World War II history. It forced Austrians to confront their part in the actions of Hitler's Germany during World War II and again raised the issue of anti-Semitism.

The World Jewish Congress had accused Waldheim of hiding his membership in Nazi youth groups before World War II and of concealing his wartime service in a German unit that committed atrocities in the Balkans.

Some Disagreement

Waldheim has admitted serving in the unit, but has continually denied that he was a Nazi or took part in massacres of partisans or civilians. He has also denied knowing about deportations of Jews at the time.