Jörg Haider (help·info) (German pronunciation: [ˈjœɐ̯k ˈhaɪdɐ]; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008) was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich, BZÖ), a breakaway party from the FPÖ.

Haider was a controversial figure within Austria and abroad for comments that were widely condemned as praising Nazi policies or as being xenophobic or anti-Semitic. Several countries imposed mild diplomatic sanctions against his party's participation in government alongside Wolfgang Schüssel's ÖVP, starting from 2000. Haider died in a car accident shortly after leading the BZÖ in the Austrian Parliamentary elections.

Haider's parents had been early members of the Nazi Party (NSDAP, German National Socialist Workers' Party, the Austrian affiliate of the German NSDAP). They were from different backgrounds. Haider's father, Robert Haider, was a shoemaker. His mother, Dorothea Rupp, was the daughter of a well-to-do physician and head of the gynaecology ward at the general hospital of Linz.

The surname Haider may refer to:

For the Arabic name (Arabic حيدر ), see Haydar.

Stefan Petzner (born 17 January 1981 in Lassnitz near Murau, Styria) is an Austrian politician. He is a member of the economical right Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich, BZÖ). Petzner is a former reporter (of the Styrian Kleine Zeitung) and a student of journalism. Petzner directed the election campaigns in 2006 and 2008. In 2008 Petzner was appointed secretary general of the BZÖ.

After Jörg Haider's death in a car accident on 11 October 2008, the party's executive committee nominated Petzner to succeed as party chairman. In an interview on the same day Petzner declared in tears that Jörg Haider was his "Lebensmensch", i.e. the "person of his life".

On 19 October 2008, Petzner announced that he and Haider had been having "a relationship that went far beyond friendship" with the full knowledge of Haider's wife, Claudia. The Associated Press reported Petzner's comments as "Jörg and I were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life ... I loved him as a best friend." The article was titled: Was Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider gay? Euronews ran the headline "Rumours of Joerg Haider’s secret gay life." Other reports had that “some say” Haider had died “after a furious row with the man who now claims to have been his lover.”