Heinz-Christian Strache
| Heinz-Christian Strache | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria | |
|
Assumed office 23 April 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Hilmar Kabas |
| Member of the Austrian Parliament | |
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Assumed office 1997 |
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| Member of the Vienna City Council | |
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In office 1991–1996 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
12 June 1969 Vienna, Austria |
| Political party | Freedom Party of Austria |
| Spouse(s) |
Daniela Plachutta (m. 1999; div. 2006) Philippa Beck (m. 2016) |
| Children | 2 |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Daniela Plachutta (m. 1999; div. 2006)
Heinz-Christian Strache (born 12 June 1969) is an Austrian right-wing politician, a member of parliament and former member of the Vienna city council, who has been Chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) since 2005. He prefers to call himself just 'HC' Strache.
Strache, who by training is a dental technician, has been active in the politics of Vienna since 1991. In 2004, he replaced Hilmar Kabas as the leader of the Vienna FPÖ. He had been considered a disciple of long-time national party leader Jörg Haider, but began to oppose him as the result of increased strife within the party in January 2005.
After a series of losses in state elections, rumours spread that Strache would run for the office of national party leader against Haider's sister, Ursula Haubner. The high risk of Haubner's defeat was probably one of the events that induced Haider to set up a new party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ). After the split, Strache was elected national party leader of the FPÖ on 23 April 2005.
Since the split, the FPÖ's results in state elections have been mixed. While it dropped out of the Styria Landtag and was reduced to 5.7% in Burgenland, it surpassed expectations in the Vienna elections of October 2005. Strache himself was the leading candidate in Vienna, and the party received 14.9% of votes. Strache's campaign, included slogans such as:
In the 2010 Vienna elections for mayor, city council, and district councils, Strache's party received 26% of the vote and increased their number of seats in the city council to 27. His support was strongest among young people under 30.
The campaign included slogans such as:
Strache was once again accused of xenophobia during his campaign and responded formally in the press to the allegations.
...
Wikipedia