European Parliament Election, 2009
In 2009, Martin flirted with the idea of heading a planned Austrian list of the pan-European eurosceptical alliance Libertas.eu, but later rebuffed Libertas' advances. While Libertas finally didn't manage to set up a list at all, Martin successfully competed in the election with his independent list. He even surprised many by increasing his vote share to 18%, leading to three seats in the European Parliament.
Later, Martin wanted third-placed Angelika Werthmann not to take up her seat so that fourth-placed Martin Ehrenhauser could become an MEP instead. However, Werthmann refused to do so, and in the end, second-placed Robert Sabitzer didn't take up his seat; afterwards, there were rumours that Werthmann might leave to join the Greens or the ÖVP instead. The list however vigorously denied the accusations and the supposed defection has not occurred.
Reportedly, following the 2009 election Martin tried to have his three MEPs join the ALDE group; Martin later denied that he had wanted to join.
Read more about this topic: Hans-Peter Martin's List
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