Heinz-Christian Strache

Heinz-Christian Strache
Chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria
Assumed office
23 April 2005 (2005-04-23)
Preceded by Hilmar Kabas
Member of the Austrian Parliament
Assumed office
1997
Member of the Vienna City Council
In office
1991–1996
Personal details
Born (1969-06-12) 12 June 1969
Vienna, Austria
Political party Freedom Party of Austria
Religion Reformed

Heinz-Christian Strache (born 12 June 1969) is an Austrian 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.

Rise to national party leader

Heinz-Christian Strache in 2008.

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.

State elections and the campaign in Vienna

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:

2010 Vienna elections

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.[1] His support was strongest among young people under 30.[2]

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.[3]

References

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
Hilmar Kabas
(interim)
Chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria
23 April 2005 -
Succeeded by
Incumbent
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