Votez pour moi ! - Wannabe a Mep

In June last year 10,000 candidates, representing 303 political parties stood for the 626 seats of the European Parliament. We followed ten hopefuls. None were from the mainstream parties. The winners can expect the same salary as their national politicians', as much as £90,000 "secretarial" expenses, and living allowances totalling more than £12,500 a year for those who attend all the parliamentary sessions in Brussels and Strasbourg. Of course there are travelling expenses, business class airfares which don't have to be accounted for, and they will even be able to claim tuition fees for learning a foreign language, as well as expenses for travelling on EU business outside the EU. Four of our hopefuls were successful at the polls, but who and why ?