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Animals As Electoral Candidates




There are often obstacles to animals being nominated as candidates — 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, although this usually happens only in small towns where the result is not considered important.


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Several animals in the US have been elected mayors of small towns such as Rabbit Hash , KY whose mayor is a black lab named Junior Cochran, and Lajitas, TX, whose mayor is a beer-drinking goat named Clay Henry III.

  • In 1989, regional council boundaries were redrawn, with an emphasis on catchments being connected. These revised maps made Whangamomona , NZ part of the Manawatu-Wanganui Region. Residents wanted to continue to be part of the Taranaki Region, and on 1 November 1989, they responded by declaring themselves the "Republic of Whangamomona" at the first Republic Day. At every Republic Day, they vote to either keep the seating President or to vote in a new one. Since 1999, they have had Billy Gumboot the Goat (1999-2001) and Tai the Poodle (2003-2004), the current Incumbent being Murt "Murtle the Turtle" Kennard (2005-Present).


  • In 2004, a famous prankster and Street Art ist from Szeged, Hungary , proclaimed himself the founder of the Hungarian Double-tailed Dog Party , going as far as to place propaganda ads out on the walls of Szeged's houses, promoting the candidate "István Nagy", a two-tailed dog.



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