Eastern Europe sends colourful characters to Brussels

Riga - Despite generally low turnouts figures in the European elections, central and eastern European countries mustered enough votes to send a selection of intriguing new characters to Brussels and Strasbourg. Leading the list is Latvia's 74-year-old Alfreds Rubiks, who will be taking a seat in the European Union 18 years after backing a hardline Communist coup attempting to keep Latvia part of the Soviet Union.

The former politburo member served a jail term and was banned from standing for political office in Latvia but will now represent the country he tried so hard to keep from the map of European nations.

Rubiks was on the ticket of the pro-Russian Harmony Centre party, which made big gains in municipal elections held on the same day as the European vote.

Ironically, Rubiks will be accompanied to Brussels by a familiar foe. Two-time Latvian prime minister Ivars Godmanis, 57, was a central figure in the Latvian independence movement.

Godmanis, of the Latvia First/Latvia's Way party, will debut in the European Parliament after resigning from office earlier this year as the Baltic state plunged into the EU's deepest recession.

In contrast to grizzled veterans like Rubiks and Godmanis, Romania will be sending pin-up Elena Basescu, 29, the daughter of Romania's president Traian Basescu.

Sometimes called "the Paris Hilton of the Carpathians," Basescu has graced numerous magazine covers but is better known for her love of nightclubs than any desire to reform the Common Agricultural Policy.

However, her victory was overshadowed by reports on the hotnews.ro news website that her father's centrist Liberal Democratic Party allegedly ordered party branches to secure votes for the former model.

Also in Romania, controversial real-estate tycoon and football club owner George Becali was likely to make it to the European Parliament on the ticket of the ultra-nationalist Romania Mare (Greater Romania) party, which was ousted from parliament in the latest general election in late 2008.

Romanian authorities are prosecuting Becali over alleged corruption.

In Slovenia, a slew of former cabinet ministers including former prime minister Lojze Peterle and former foreign minister Zoran Thaler were also set to make it the European Parliament, according to projected results.

Tiny Estonia sprang a surprise by electing independent candidate Indrek Tarand. By day, Tarand is a museum director but in the evening he hosts popular TV quiz show "Are you as clever as a fifth-grade student?"

His mastery of general knowledge is sure to be a boon in Brussels, but if he has any questions he knows someone who can provide answers: his father Andres Tarand is a member of the outgoing European Parliament