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submitted 2 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

A man named Hitler Mussolini Simeon Flores has secured a narrow victory in Peru's local elections, exit polls show.

The candidate for the centre-left Ahora Nación party was elected mayor of Queropalca, a remote district in the Peruvian Andes.

Some 229 residents voted for the 45-year-old, putting him ahead of the second-place candidate from right-wing Renovación Popular Perú by just 25 votes.

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[-] WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today 18 points 2 days ago

Well... He doesn't have to work very hard to get his name out there.

[-] i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 days ago

This is how you become impossible to google.

[-] modus@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Except for today.

[-] itsjustachairmary@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

Well I'll be the first to say good luck and you have my full support, Hitler. You got this, Mussolini.

[-] fonix232@fedia.io 7 points 2 days ago

In 20 years someone will proclaim "Hitler did a lot of good for his community" and people will be perplexed until the clarification

[-] ExtremeUnicorn@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Let's hope that will be the case with how things develop in the western political spectrum..

[-] bender223@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago

oh fuk, he beat Franklin Delanor Churchill Machado?! 😮

[-] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

Uh nope. Well almost, RTFA:

He reportedly beat rival candidate Lenin Vladimir Rodríguez Valverde after campaigning on the slogan "I'm the good Hitler".

[-] ech@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago

He beat the Blue Meanie? And Cowboy Curtis and Jambie the Genie?

(Sorry, it just got stuck in my head reading that title.)

It seems insane. And yet, look how effective it is. You now know the name and face of some otherwise completely unknown man from a small town in Peru.

I'm imagining it like this:

Imagine you want to be mayor of your town. You think you have a message that would appeal to most people. You think you have the skills and background to do the job right. And somehow, let's assume we can objectively say you're right. If you were elected, most of the city would think you did quite a decent job. You do have a message that would resonate with most people. And you truly are the rare soul that both wants power and should actually have it. The world would be better off with you as mayor.

But you have no way of getting to that future. If you could just get your message out there somehow, then yes you could. What you need...is a publicity stunt! So you change your name to Hitler. Suddenly all the local "weird news" beats want to do a brief interview with you. The headlines read, "man changes name to Hitler, runs for mayor!" Those stories get shared at a national and global level. You get a few seconds to mention you're running for mayor of your city and to check out your otherwise obscure YouTube channel...a channel where you've documented your views in detail. A few people check it out, then realize your ideas actually have some merit. And maybe you openly admit the whole Hitler thing is just a publicity stunt. And somehow, it actually works. Your notoriety starts to snowball, kickstarted by the stupid publicity stunt. IDK. It's crazy, but sometimes crazy works.

this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2026
108 points (99.1% liked)

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