Tony G Elected Member of the European Parliament

Antanas Guoga, better known in the poker community as Tony G, has been elected a Member of the European Parliament from the list of the Liberals Movement of the Republic of Lithuania.

In October 2013, Tony G announced on his Facebook page that he would participate in the European elections this year as a candidate, representing the Liberals Movement of the Republic of Lithuania. As he wrote, his country needed a change and his party was the most capable of delivering it. Tony G brings in his experience as a businessman and successful poker player (his total live tournament winnings exceed $5 million), which he believes can assist him in his political career.

The elections took place on 25 May and the Liberals Movement performed above expectations, running in 3rd with 16.52% of the turnout voting for them and receiving two mandates. The success is in a huge part thanks to Tony G himself, who had been working hard on winning votes, especially in the rural districts, where the Liberals are traditionally less popular. He drove a total of 42,000 kilometers to meet about 60,000 voters and the results are clear: he finished on the top of the list of his party, collecting a total of over 97,000 votes, second only on a national level to Vilija Blinkevičiūtė of the Social Democratic Party in terms of preferential votes. Lithuania sends a total of 11 MEPs to the European Parliament.

The party considers this a major victory and Tony G highlighted that their goal to surpass the Labour Party has been more than met. Previously, he had also already announced that in case he was elected, he would retire from poker. Still, it is not clear if he would completely stop playing or was willing to occasionally show up at a tournament or two, or in some high stakes shows.

In fact, poker has always been more of a hobby for Guoga; he is much better known in his home country as a businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He supports animal rights, sponsors the national basketball team (used to be the vice president of the federation and even showed up at the Olympics in 2012) and is involved in the betting, real estate, vehicles and art treasures business in Lithuania.

Apparently, he is the kind of “liberal voter ideal”, a “celebrity businessman” as local political analyst Audrius Bačiulis puts it, who works hard for results, while remaining open and easy to approach. In his tour across the country, Tony G was always open and honest about his personal and business life and is hell-bent on bringing about positive changes as a MEP.

“I want to change Lithuanian politics. I have already had some success, I have positive ideas I want to share and I hope that after me, more new people will get involved in politics,” Guoga says.

Apparently, his activity did impress young voters and people looking for new faces in the Lithuanian politics. According to analysts, the success of the Liberals also resulted in a larger turnout among the youth and other parties also celebrate young “stars”.

Interestingly enough, Tony G has become famous in the poker world most of all for his trash talking. Despite being a reasonably successful player, it has been his unforgiving and tilting comments that got him recognized in the community. Whether we can expect a similar tone of him in the European Parliament (especially as regards Russians) remains to be seen.