Eight years after he stopped being a Liberal Democrat MP, Lembit Opik has taken the natural next step in his political career - by getting elected as one of 147 new Members of Parliament for Asgardia, the “first space nation”.

Asgardia was founded by Russian scientist Dr Igor Ashurbeyli in 2016. With over 200,000 citizens it claims to be 172nd biggest country in the world by population size, ahead of Saint Lucia and just behind Iceland.

According to its leaders, Asgardia will be a fully-fledged, independent nation inhabited on a low Earth orbit. But for now its presence in outer space consists of the Asgardia-1 satellite which was launched last year and contains the data of thousands of Asgardia citizens.

In his manifesto, Opik stated: “My dream is to help our species be the very best we can be - as citizens of a wonderful planet in a remarkable cosmos. I aspire to help Asgardia fulfil its ambition of inhabiting space and reaching for the stars - in peace. If you share this vision, I hope you will give me your vote. I'm a realist. I know what I can do. I hope you'll give me the opportunity dedicate my time and energy to serving Asgardia - our space nation united in our dream for one humanity.”

To which one fellow Asgardian asked: “What is your business experience ?

Even more curiously, sitting Conservative MP Nigel Evans has also been elected as a Member of Parliament for Asgardia. Evans is president of the UK Parliamentary Space Committee and in his manifesto he committed to helping the Asgardian Parliament grow as “a political force for Asgardian legislation and policy making”.

The first meeting of the Asgardian Parliament is set for 24 June in Vienna. It should be a blast…



