(ANSA-AP) - BERLIN - Austria's far-right Freedom Party has
thrown out Philippa Strache, wife of party ex-leader and former
Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, after she accepted a
parliamentary seat won in last month's election. A terse party
announcement Wednesday said Philippa Strache was expelled
following her acceptance of the seat in a statement in which she
complained of a "campaign of defamation." It said her statement
was damaging to the party. Her acceptance of the seat followed a
back-and-forth over whether the party could prevent Strache from
taking it following the Sept. 29 election. That election was
prompted by a scandal centering on Heinz-Christian Strache that
brought down Austria's last coalition government. The Freedom
Party suspended the former vice chancellor after the election,
in which it suffered heavy losses. (ANSA-AP).
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