In 1986 Streicher became Minister of the Public Economy and Transport (German: Bundesminister für öffentliche Wirtschaft und Verkehr) under Chancellor Franz Vranitzky.

He held this position in three Vranitzky cabinets and stood down in 1992 to seek the Presidency in which he was widely considered the front-runner.

Streicher won the first round with a margin of more than three percents, but he did not gain enough votes to avoid a runoff election.

However, he lost the second round of the election in 1992 to Thomas Klestil and subsequently retired from active politics.

After his political career, he served as chief executive officer of Steyr-Daimler-Puch from 1992 to 1998[3] and of the Austrian State and Industrial Holding Ltd from 1999 to 2001.