The lower house of the Austrian parliament on Wednesday voted to ratify the European Union constitution treaty, with the only 'no' vote cast by a far rightist whose party had unsuccessfully demanded a referendum on the measure.

MPs from parties across the political spectrum said they were voting to ratify the constitution because there was no alternative, though the text was not perfect.

In total 182 MPs voted in favour of ratification, with the only exception being Barbara Rozenkranz of the far right Freedom Party. A few hours later, the Slovak parliament also voted conclusively to ratify the European Union constitution treaty.

"We can choose between this and the miserable Treaty of Nice," the head of Austria's opposition Greens, Alexander Van Der Bellen, told fellow lawmakers.

The rules required that three-fifths of the 150-member parliament vote in favour, and only the Communists and the Christian-Democratic Movementdid not support the text.

Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said the constitution was "for many, myself included, not perfect enough" but held big advantages for all citizens of the bloc.

"It means everybody will have an EU passport, people will have important citizen's rights in a democratic, open community," he added.

The ratification is expected to be rubber-stamped by the upper house of parliament and then promulgated by the end of the month.

Austria will thus become the eight EU member state to have ratified the constitution treaty, after Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Spain and Slovakia.

Alfred Gusenbauer, the leader of the main opposition Social-Democrats, said his party did not believe the consitution "will lead to better policies" but Europe would be plunged into crisis if any member state rejected it.

"It could have been better, but we have no alternative. This is better than the old treaty and that is why we vote for it," he said.

"If we have no constitution, Europe will go into one of its worst crises ever," he said.

The vote follow a failed call by right-wing firebrand Joerg Haider, the leader of the junior party in the ruling coalition, for the government to call a referendum on the treaty, a path that has been followed in several EU states.

The Freedom Party, which Haider led until recently, has followed him and several Austrian legal experts in calling for a referendum.

Haider said he would ask the Constitutional Court to rule on whether it was legal to ratify the EU consitution without a plebscite, as some of its clauses overrule Austria's national constitution.

The senior party in the ruling coalition, Schuessel's People's Party, rejected his demands, reiterating the chancellor's position that "a referendum would not be possible except in the context of a consultation of the whole of Europe".

The president of the Constitutional Court, Karl Korinek, meanwhile pointed out that European law has for some time already taken precedence over the highest national law.

But though stillborn, Haider's call gathered some popular support.

The mass circulation tabloid, Kronenzeitung, called Wednesday "a dark day for direct democracy" in a banner headline and said France, which is holding a referendum on May 29, "has a stronger sense of democracy than Schuessel's government."

Haider recently broke with the Freedom Party to create the Alliance for Austria's Future (BZOe) which is now the junior coalitian partner in the government.

He allowed members of the BZOe to vote according to their conscience in the parliamentary vote, and all those in the lower house on Wednesday backed the EU constitution.

They included Vice Chancellor Hubert Gorbach, who said he was voting, "with a clean conscience for a treaty that preserves the sovereignty of states."