The great nephew of the last Austrian emperor has launched a
fight to stand in presidential elections, challenging a constitution that bans
any member of the Habsburg imperial dynasty from ever ruling Austria again.
Dr Ulrich Habsburg-Lothringen is barred from running for
Austria's presidency by his country's republican constitution, drawn up when
the last Habsburg Emperor Charles I was forced to abdicate power in 1918.
The 68-year old forester uses the name Lothringen, for the
Lorraine branch of the imperial dynasty, when signing official documents.
Dr Habsburg, who has three children and six grandchildren,
is angry that he and his descendants are discriminated against while candidates
with a Nazi past, such as Kurt Waldheim, Austria's president between 1986 and
1992, are not.
"Apparently, the Austrian Republic is still so insecure
that it needs this law. Austrians are more afraid of the Habsburgs than the
Nazis," he told AFP.
A member of the environmentalist Green party since 1987, in
a province governed for years by the far-right, Dr Habsburg has little in
common with his imperial ancestors who once ruled much of Europe.
A local councillor in his hometown of Wolfsberg, from 1997
to 2009, he decided to run for national office after a family gathering when he
realised that none of those in attendance could ever hold the country's highest
post.
"What crime have my grandchildren committed that they
are not allowed to run for president? My daughters-in-law, because they married
a Habsburg, are barred as well," he said.
Dr Habsburg, a republican, who has been embarrassed by
support from monarchists, has insisted that he is standing to defend equal
rights for all Austrians.
The Social Democrats, whose candidate Heinz Fischer is the
current Austrian President, have opposed his calls for reform and claimed that
constitutional change might encourage imperial descendants to claim back
property that was confiscated by the state in 1918.
Having failed to collect the 6,000 signatures required to
ensure candidacy before a deadline last week, the emperor's great nephew will
now be unable to join the presidential race on 25 April.
However, the Austrian constitutional court has accepted his
case, to be heard after the vote.
The House of Habsburg was once one of the most important
royal houses of Europe.
It is best known for providing all of the formally elected
Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the
Austro-Hungarian and Spanish Empires.
It is most notorious for frequent inbreeding and the use of
consanguineous marriages to consolidate its power. Genetic defects, such as the
infamous Habsburg jaw, led to extermination of Spanish branch of the dynasty.