Vilnius - Leaders of Lithuania's parties include a stunt pilot who was the first European president to be impeached, a fugitive gherkin magnate and a game show host who was once arrested in connection with a bomb scare. In such a bizarre political landscape, Andrius Kubilius seems unusual for being a professional politician.

Kubilius is seen as the country's likely next prime minister after a round of coalition-building wraps up in the wake of recently finished elections.

Born 1956 in Vilnius, Kubilius grew up in communist Lithuania, graduating from the physics faculty of Vilnius University in 1979. He joined the Sajudis Movement, the main centre of political opposition to Soviet occupation, in 1988 and quickly rose through its ranks during the struggle for independence.

After independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, he entered parliament in 1992 as a protege of president Vytautas Landsbergis. In 1993 he was a founding member of the Homeland Union.

Kubilius has already had one brief spell as prime minister, in 1999-2000, during which time he proved to be business-friendly without being tied too closely to vested interests. He played a key role in the liberalization and privatization of key industries such as gas, electricity and the transport sector.

As a result, he has retained more respect than many other politicians who emerged in the first few years after Lithuania regained its independence.

Even Viktor Uspaskich, the aforementioned gherkin magnate, who lies at the other end of the political, personal and social spectrum from the dapper Kubilius spoke in glowing terms of his rival's upright character recently - though that could have had as much to do with trying to get into the good books of the next prime minister as anything else.

Kubilius is a good organizer and established the Homeland Union as an efficient, opposition political machine, complete with a slick website, personal blog and media-friendly attitude.

He gradually built pressure on the government of Gediminas Kirkilas, but resisted overt populism. However, by doing so, opened up the door for the avowedly populist Rising Nation, or "Showbiz" Party, to gather up that vote. They will now likely be Kubilius' main coalition partner.

The future stability of a Kubilius-led government is likely to rest on whether he can develop a good working relationship with Arunas Valinskas, the leader of Rising Nation and a former TV game show host.

But perhaps the real reason for Kubilius' return to the top of the Lithuanian political scene is simply a case of history repeating itself. The Sajudis Movement was a broadly-based right-leaning coalition designed to keep Lithuania intact during a political crisis. This time, Kubilius has managed to assemble another centre- right coalition that will aim to take Lithuania safely through an economic crisis.

Kubilius says he is relishing the challenge and cites Ireland as an example of how a small country can achieve a big turnaround in its fortunes.

"We have a situation which is really challenging. But challenges can mean more interesting times for government than a calm period," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"My personal experience in government was in the crisis of 1999, so I think this government will be of a similar type. We shall not be afraid of making deep changes. We have the example of Ireland in the middle of the 1980s when, during a crisis, they made a national agreement. That became exactly the basis of the success of Ireland in later years. Perhaps also this crisis is needed for Lithuania to go into the future," he said. (dpa)