Elena Basescu

Qball · November 26, 2009

Elena Basescu (born April 24, 1980) is a Romanian politician and Member of the European Parliament. She is the youngest daughter of Traian Basescu, the current President of Romania. The BBC describes her as a "sexy celebrity" and the "Paris Hilton of Romania".

She was formerly a model, and entered politics in 2007. She has a degree in economics.

Basescu stood as a candidate for the European Parliament in the 2009 election. She had sought to stand as a candidate for her father's Democratic Liberal Party, but was rejected by the party and stood as an independent. Nonetheless, she "wasted no time in gathering 200,000 signatures for her candidacy". L'Express noted that her candidacy caused some concern in the party, due to fears that she might draw votes away from it. Her initial popularity in opinion polls was high (16%), but subsequently dropped to 5 or 6% shortly before the election. However 75% of the electorate did not vote in sign of protest, this being the lowest turnout in Romanian history for an election, and the percentage that voted for her was from a minority composed of the members of the party that was once ruled by her father Traian Basescu, currently the President of Romania.

The BBC describes her as "known to be more interested in parties than party politics", and notes that "[v]ideo clips of her verbal gaffes are internet hits".According to L'Express, she has had to "face accusations of nepotism and incompetence, fuelled by her series of gaffes and grammatical blunders".

Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_B%C4%83sescu