Non-human electoral candidates

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.

Notable examples

A statue of Bosco the dog, former mayor of Sunol, California
A statue of Macaco Tião, a candidate for mayor of Rio de Janeiro
Dustin the Turkey, a puppet, received thousands of votes in Ireland's 1997 presidential election.

Folklore and pop culture

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.

The nerd-folk song "President Snakes" from the 2015 album of the same name by the music duo The Doubleclicks explores how five snakes run as one electoral candidate.[48][49][50][51][52][53]

See also

References

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  12. Rio Zoo completes 60 years, O Estado de S. Paulo, 2005-03-18
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  29. "Can This Crawfish Get More Supporters Than Bobby Jindal?". Can This Crawfish Get More Supporters Than Bobby Jindal?. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  30. "Louisiana Would Rather Vote for a (Mud)Bug Than Bobby Jindal". 7/1/2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. White Jr., Lamar (7/1/2015). "Bobby Jindal has no shame: This charlatan belongs nowhere near the White House". Salon. Retrieved 8 August 2015. Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  33. Leonard, Lucy. "CRAWFISH '16". NOLA Defender. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
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  40. Lopez, Ashley (July 8, 2015). "For Limberbutt McCubbins, 'The Time Is Meow' To Run For President". NPR.
  41. Greenwood, Arin (July 9, 2015). "A Cat Named Limberbutt McCubbins Is Running For President! He's A Demo-Cat". Huffington Post.
  42. Stump, Scott (July 24, 2015). "Next Washington Fat Cat Limberbutt McCubbins Running for President". Today.
  43. Qiu, Linda (July 14, 2015). "Can a cat run for president?". Politifact.com.
  44. Loosemore, Bailey (July 20, 2015). "Limberbutt 2016: Ky. cat running for president". The Courier-Journal.
  45. "Joe Arnold Asks Presidential Candidate Limberbutt McCubbins the Hard Hitting Questions". WHAS-TV. July 20, 2015.
  46. Arnold, Joe (July 20, 2015). "Demo-Cat Campaign for President Meows The Time". WHAS-TV.
  47. Kobola, Frank (July 9, 2015). "This Cat is Running for President". Cosmopolitan.
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  49. Greenwald, David (May 13, 2015). "Boldly Go". OregonLive.com. Advance Digital. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  50. Jusino, Teresa (May 7, 2015). "Things We Saw Today: Gillian Anderson Keeping Hannibal VERY Close to Her Heart". The Mary Sue. Abrams Media. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  51. Kohlruss, Craig (October 17, 2015). "Superheroes, monsters and regular citizens mingle at downtown Fresno’s Zappcon". The Fresno Bee. The McClatchy Company. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  52. Liu, Jonathan H. (May 12, 2015). "Help The Doubleclicks Fund Their Next Album, ‘President Snakes’". GeekDad. geekdad.com. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  53. Pamplin Media Group (June 2, 2015). "Kickstarter gives 'President Snakes' a big lift". Portland Tribune. Pamplin Media Group. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
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