This page was exported from Shelburne Free Press [ https://shelburnefreepress.ca ] Export date:Tue Jul 23 10:31:20 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: Just for fun... Non–human electoral candidates --------------------------------------------------- According to Wikipedia, non-human electoral candidates have been found in a number of countries. Often, the candidacies are a means of casting a protest vote or satirizing the political system. Other times, it is simply done for the entertainment value. Electoral regulations may explicitly require candidates to be human (or equivalent wording), or may require candidates to do things which animals cannot reasonably do (such as sign their name legibly on a legal form). On some occasions, however, animals have been accepted as candidates, and have even won office. The notion of animals being elected to office have often been the subject of parody and folklore. In 1972, American singer Tom T. Hall had a hit with a recording entitled “The Monkey That Became President” which considered a scenario in which said animal was elected to office. Thomas Love Peacock's 1817 novel Melincourt featured an orangutan as a parliamentary candidate. The Black Mirror episode The Waldo Moment explores the concept of a cartoon character electoral candidate. Welcome to Night Vale features Hiram McDaniels as a mayoral candidate. Hiram McDaniels is a five-headed dragon who cares. Examples include: • Bosco the dog, a black Labrador-Rottweiler mix, was elected mayor of Sunol, California (1981–1994) • Morris the Cat ran as a candidate in the U.S. presidential election, 1988 and the U.S. presidential election, 1992 • Dustin the Turkey, a popular Irish television puppet received thousands of votes in the Republic of Ireland's 1997 presidential election. Although not being an official candidate there are rumours that he came in fifth, ahead of official candidate Derek Nally • In 1997, a cat named Stubbs was elected mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska • United States film maker Michael Moore attempted to get a potted ficus tree onto the ballot as a candidate for United States Representative in 2000 • Ed the Sock, a fictional sock puppet, attempted to run for the Fed-Up Party during the Canadian federal election, 2011 • Tuxedo Stan, a cat from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was a mayoral candidate in the 2012 municipal elections representing the Tuxedo Party, a political movement aimed to improve the welfare of felines in HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality) “because neglect isn't working”. He has been endorsed by celebrities including Anderson Cooper. --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2014-10-15 14:47:51 Post date GMT: 2014-10-15 18:47:51 Post modified date: 2014-10-22 13:20:07 Post modified date GMT: 2014-10-22 17:20:07 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com