Radio- en tv-journalisten, astronauten en ijshockeyspelers kandidaat voor euro-verkiezingen (en)

With the prospect of a record low turnout in the elections, political parties are seeking new ways to attract the attention of electorates in the European Parliament elections.

Jean-Marie Cavada has stepped down as president of Radio France. On Tuesday (26 April), he announced his candidacy for the European Elections, where he will stand for the UDF party as a non-party member.

Heading Radio France since 1998, Mr Cavada is a well-known figure in France. Aged 64, he is to run as top candidate in one of the French regions for the party of François Bayrou, the coalition partner of President Chirac.

Jean-Marie Cavada however does not plan to join the UDF as a party member.

"I am not signing up as a member of the UDF party for one simple reason: I do not want to be a political politician. Thus, I do not enter a party. At least for the moment, I do not plan to", Mr Cavada said according to AFP, quoted in Yahoo France.

Low turnout

The trend of picking well-known figures outside the traditional political party ranks is widespread in the European Parliament elections.

The overall turnout for voting for members of the European parliament has fallen from 63 percent in the first elections in 1979 to 49.4 percent in the last elections in 1999 and it could go even lower this time.

And parties are trying to rally against this.

In the Czech Republic the opposition communists (KSCM) have former Czech astronaut Vladimir Remek on the list.

In Slovakia, Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda's party has also chosen a non-politician - but a very popular personality - to top their candidacy listing.

Former hockey player Peter Stastny is still giving interviews on the composition of the Slovak national hockey team at the forthcoming World Championship rather than on EU matters.

RAI journalist joins Prodi's list

In Italy, the RAI journalist Lilli Gruber has just announced her plans to quit journalism and launch a political career.

The popular television presenter will join European Commission President Romano Prodi's centre-left list "Uniti nell'Ulivo, per l'Europa" made up of four Italian parties.

"I have accepted the offer to be a candidate for the European Parliament, because I think, if I get the support of voters, this is the place where I can contribute to the development of the rules Italy needs", she said, according to AFP.

The European elections will be held between 10-13 June 2004. In all, 732 members of the European Parliament are to be elected from the 25 EU member states.