Heinz-Christian Strache (12 June 1969-) was Vice Chancellor of Austria from 18 December 2017 to 19 May 2019, succeeding Wolfgang Brandstetter and preceding Norbert Hofer. He was an FPO member, and he served as its chairman from 2005 to 2019, succedeing Hilmar Kabas and preceding Hofer.
Biography[]
Heinz-Christian Strache was born in Vienna, Austria on 12 June 1969, and he worked as a dental technician before becoming involved in Vienna politics in 1991 as an FPO member. He was elected to the Vienna Parliament in 2001, and he replaced Hilmar Kabas as FPO chairman in Vienna in 2004 and then as national chairman in 2005. Strache led the party further to the right, arguing that "Vienna must not become Istanbul", "Austria instead of Islam", "German instead of 'I don't understand'", "Pummerin instead of muezzin", "Homeland in the heart", and "Jobs instead of immigration." Strache was controversial for his Islamophobia, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism, but he served as Vice Chancellor of Austria from 2017 to 2019 due to the FPO's alliance with the ruling OVP party. In 2019, he was forced to step down as Vice Chancellor and FPO Chairman after he was caught on video promising favors to wealthy donors, and a snap election was then called.