La Cicciolina's Hungarian Rhapsody

Former porn queen Ilona Staller made international headlines in January when she announced she would run for Parliament in Hungary. There was approximately little to no media attention, however, when the 50-year-old Staller -- known by her fans as "La Cicciolina" -- failed to collect enough signatures in her district to qualify as a candidate for this month's election. But Staller, who flashed her breasts as a member of the Italian Parliament and had sex with everyone from John Holmes to a horse during her illustrious porn career, is not going away quietly.

Speaking in an impassioned flurry of Hungarian, Italian and broken English, Staller, whose wide, full-lipped face is surprisingly wrinkle-free, claimed she was bitterly attacked by the government, betrayed by her campaign manager and kept down by a corrupt election system.

"I contest this type of election," Staller said over a breakfast of cold cuts and eggs in a hotel near Hero’s Square in Budapest. "This is not fair, not healthy, and it is necessary to change. Democratically, this is not good."

She said it was nearly impossible for independent candidates and small parties to make it into Parliament because of the enormous pressure those in power brought to bear. Although there are more than 120 registered parties in Hungary, only two -- the ruling center-right party and the opposition socialist party -- really have any clout at election time.

Staller said one of these "large parties" used a number of tactics to keep her out of the race. She said her posters were covered up, her campaign car was pushed off the road and hecklers spoiled her attempts at public speaking. She said members of Parliament also accused her of spying when she was a waitress at a Budapest hotel in the days of communism.

Ignoring the question of spying, Staller said her big-party opponents were out to get her because she might be a challenge to their authority. Fewer than eight percent of the 386 members of Hungary’s Parliament are female.

"I am a combative woman," said Staller. "A 'guerriera,' like Schwartznegger, only a woman. I think so many people scared that I arrive in Parliament."

Indeed, Staller does have the reputation of stirring things up in a man’s world. While she was a member of the Italian Parliament in 1991, Staller offered to have sex with both George Bush Sr. and Sadaam Hussein to prevent the impending Gulf War. And, after being attacked by Hungarian politicians, the star of dozens of porn movies snapped back that most of the men sitting in Parliament had pasts that were much sleazier than hers.

But Staller, who made her last porno flick in 1989, says her wild days are behind her. While in the Italian Parliament, she fought for sex for prisoners, sex education for young kids and sexual liberation for everyone. But she is now focusing her energies on alleviating poverty.

"I am here not showing my breasts. Now I am speaking about poor people so it is not necessary -- not because I don't have beautiful breasts ... even now," she said, pausing momentarily to massage her breasts through her tight white tank top. "But it's not necessary showing because poor people have no interest in my breasts."

Staller said one of the larger parties -- she would not say which -- may have bribed people like her campaign manager to turn against her to ensure her defeat. Staller, who lives in Rome, hired a man she would only identify as "Janos" -- to start collecting the required 750 recommendation cards from registered voters in Kobanya, the district of Budapest she was running in.

Under Hungarian election law, voters receive cards in the mail that can be used to recommend certain candidates in their district. When she would call and ask how it was going with the cards, Janos assured her that he had a team of 20 people collecting the cards.