The year 2002 witnessed severe infighting between the relatively pragmatic, neo-liberal wing of party leader and vice-chancellor Susanne Riess-Passer and the fundamentalist social-national wing led by Carinthian governor Joerg Haider, which almost split the party. Following the loss of delegate support at a meeting in Knittelfeld in September 2002, Riess-Passer resigned from her positions, as did Karl-Heinz Grasser (federal minister of financial affairs) and parliamentary fraction leader Peter Westenthaler. In a second wave of resignations, more high-ranking party members (including MP Peter Sichrovsky and Gerhard Hager, now a member of the European Parliament), followed their example. ÖVP, the senior coalition partner, reacted by terminating the coalition, which no longer had the backing of the majority of FPÖ parliamentary members.

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