Fallen hero of Austria's far right mentions comeback as party expels him
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO) expelled its scandal-hit leader Heinz-Christian Strache on Friday and he said he was considering a political comeback next year, fuelling speculation of a split.
Strache led his party into a coalition in 2017 with conservatives led by Sebastian Kurz, but their government collapsed in May when a video surfaced showing Strache at a dinner party in Ibiza offering to fix government contracts while in discussion with a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece.
That video sting cost Strache his leadership and contributed to a 10-point fall in support for the FPO in September's parliamentary election, though allegations that Strache improperly claimed lavish expenses from the party also cost it votes. Strache denies any wrongdoing.
The party's leadership has disavowed Strache, whom anti-corruption prosecutors are investigating on suspicion of fraud in connection with the Ibiza video.
"That is what we do not want to be - a party in which there are scandals, a party in which there is a cult of personality. Indeed (we want to be a party) with a strong leader but one who is settled, not loud," FPO leader Norbert Hofer said at a news conference announcing Strache's expulsion.
Hofer did not, however, give a clear reason for the decision to expel him.
It is unclear whether Strache, who remains popular with many of the FPO's core supporters, will now found his own rival party and lead it in next year's local elections in Vienna - his home town and a Social Democratic stronghold.
Three Vienna city councillors loyal to Strache left the FPO on Thursday and created their own political grouping within the city's assembly, prompting expectations that Strache would soon join them and turn their grouping into a fully fledged party.
"The enormous support I have received from the public in the past weeks and months encourages me to think about a political comeback in the year 2020," Strache said on Facebook in response to his expulsion, adding that there are "deep divisions" within the party.
"With that, my membership of the FPO is history," he said.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
