This archive report was first published on 13 December 2019.
Published on December 13, 2019, Austrian far-right party FPOe has expelled its scandal-hit ex-leader Heinz-Christian Strache, who had led the party into government and became Vice-Chancellor in 2017.
Strache's expulsion comes after months of fallout from the Ibiza-gate scandal, which emerged in May 2017. Sensational hidden-camera footage showed Strache offering public contracts to a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch in return for campaign help.
Strache stepped down as party leader immediately after the scandal broke, but it led to the collapse of the FPOe's coalition government with the centre-right People's Party (OeVP). The party lost almost 10 points in vote share in the snap elections called after the scandal broke and remains stuck at around 15 percent in the polls.
Strache's alleged abuse of expenses and increasing tension between him and the party's new leadership also contributed to his expulsion. The party's decision mirrors splits in previous decades that similarly rocked the party, founded in the 1950s by former Nazis.
Reacting to the party's decision, Strache said in a video posted on his Facebook page that he accepted his party membership was 'history'. However, he also hinted at a possible political comeback in 2020, saying the support he had received in recent weeks had led him to consider it.
