Colourful candidates

13 May 2019

Heard in the Hemicycle brings you more titbits on colourful candidates.

The United Kingdom: a very particular country, with some very particular candidates running for its maybe? probably? last European elections. The English YouTuber “Sargon of Akkad” (meaning literally “True King”, after the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire) is running for the UK Independence Party in South West England. His true name is Carl Benjamin. He is a self-declared anti-feminist political commentator producing polemic videos such as “#Brexit: Kick them in the Ballot”. However, Mr Benjamin seems to be too extreme for some current UKIP MEPs. Indeed, 3 of them have resigned from the party over some misogynistic comments made by the future candidate.

If you are looking for more extreme stories, try this. Martin Daubney is running for the new Brexit Party. According to the Guardian, his previous job included "shooting radioactive wolves from a helicopter in Chernobyl, taking acid to celebrate LSD’s 40th anniversary, drinking a lot of alcohol and ogling women’s breasts…" Is that enough?

We are ready for a colourful European Parliament. And you? Are you equipped to contact new MEPs? Check out The MEP Database: e-Contacts EP!