Vienna, Apr 29: The province of Salzburg got its first woman Governor when Social Democrat (SP) leader Gabi Burgstaller was elected at the inaugural session of the new provincial Parliament. Burgstaller is also the first SP politician to rule the scenic and wealthy Central Austrian province bordering on Germany.

Up to March 7 elections, when the SP gained a sensational 13 per cent for the number one spot, Salzburg had been firmly in the hands of the Conservative Peoples Party (VP) since the end of the second world war. Yesterday Burgstaller was sworn in at a ceremony attended by Austrian President-designate Heinz Fischer. With her the new Salzburg government took office, a coalition of SP and VP.

The new Governor spoke of innovative and flexible Salzburg commerce and industry, and declared she wanted to bring the province to the economic head of Austria.

Of Austria's nine provinces only one other, Styria, is governed by a woman, Waltraud Klasnic of the VP. Along party political lines, five governors are VP members, three SP, and one - Joerg Haider in Carinthia - a member of the right-wing Freedom Party (FP). Bureau Report