Austria's parliament dissolves

VIENNA, Austria -- Austria's parliament has dissolved itself as planned following a political crisis unleashed by a conflict between far-rightist Joerg Haider and colleagues in his Freedom Party.

Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel of the centrist People's Party, which ruled in coalition with the Freedom Party, last week called for early elections after key Freedom Party leaders had resigned from the government and party leadership. The legislature dissolved on Friday.

The elections are set for Nov. 24, a date to be confirmed by the government on Sunday.

The Cabinet will remain in place until the elections.

The next regularly scheduled parliamentary elections had been set for September 2003.

Before voting to dissolve, parliamentarians debated for almost two days about whether their time in power had improved or hurt Austria.

Opposition politicians argued the country had taken a turn for the worse and set off a harmful conservative trend in Europe. Those representing the former ruling coalition argued that the implementation of several important reforms, including debt reduction, had made the country better.