A rare contested by-election in one of the UK’s most notorious rotten boroughs of the early 19th century showing how attempting to contest them was futile. There were three candidates, two of which received zero votes after the one opposing ballot was disqualified by the borough’s owner’s brother-in-law.
Forget 2000; this was the closest election in American history. With election fraud of all kind, sky-high tensions, and worries the nation would fall back into civil war over the winner, the champion of this election was decided by 15 people just 56 hours before inauguration day.
A Canadian politician who changed his name so that people would misread it as “none of the above” on the ballot (with the Z added to appear at the end of the list) and pick his name by mistake. However, he was printed on the ballots not as “Znoneofthe Above” but as “Above Znoneofthe”, and his (almost) masterminded plan failed.
A satirical party formed in the 1980s. Some of its main objectives include balkanizing Germany, legalizing all drugs and creating so-called “fuckpooling centers”.
A Spanish man who is the only non-Korean person to officially work for the North Korean government. Benós is also featured in some documentaries about North Korea, such as The Propaganda Game and The Mole: Undercover in North Korea.
A Malaysian politician known for his notoriously unparliamentary behavior, including shouting “fuck you” on the Dewan Rakyat floor and tweeting “long live Hitler” after a World Cup match. God knows how he’s managed to retain his position for the last 20 years.
Any of a number of peculiar words, phrases, pronunciations, malapropisms, semantic or linguistic errors that have occurred in the public speaking of former United States President George W. Bush.
A city mayor in Brazil who was, allegedly, assassinated in 2002 by criminals, but many people say that he was murdered for political reasons. Within five years, seven witnesses were found dead. To this day, the case remains unsolved.
The process that determines when representatives in the House can pick their rooms, host to such rituals as playing Frank Sinatra songs and Jedi mind tricks.
Part of Australia’s tradition of holding a fundraising sausage sizzle at polling places on election day. Not connected to the observation about similarities between how laws and sausages are made.
Predating the American television series by some decades, one British political party hosts this evening of entertainment in which participants are encouraged to sing rude songs making fun of politicians past and present, both in the party and in more general politics.
A perennial South Korean political candidate who owns a palace filled with portraits of himself, claims to be able to levitate and teleport, and that he has an IQ of 430. Got 0.8% of the vote for President in 2022.
A fictitious politician in the German Bundestag since 1979, originally introduced in the 1920s by WeimarSocial Democrats to avoid paying restaurant bills. Discovered the Mierscheid Law.
An American politician who made a bill that would make it illegal to be a furry in Oklahoma schools and promoted an official Bigfoot hunting season, among others.
A man who spent several months of 2007 as the Minister for Foreign Trade of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – even though he wasn’t a real person.
Not only did he give himself a parenthetical middle name, he tried to win an election by simply murdering his opponent – and you won’t believe this – it didn’t work.
Former American Senator who tried to kidnap the exiled former Kaiser of Germany in 1919. The plan failed when the Kaiser refused to allow him to visit. He ended up stealing a bronze ashtray instead.
A libertarian, welfarist, traditionalist, cargo cultist Ni-Vanuatu political movement that was once led by a man named “Moses” with 23 wives and briefly tried to secede. Still represented in the Parliament of Vanuatu, making it perhaps the world’s strangest non-satirical party with actual influence.
The Japanese anti-TV licensing fees party with nine names since 2020, two feudingleaders, and a habit of picking YouTubers as candidates, that was somehow still represented in the National Diet for 2019 and 2022.
In the Philippines, political candidates can be disqualified for bringing the election into disrepute or mockery, having a name which confuses voters or not actually intending to run for office.
Among other policies, this British political party advocates the banning of semicolons as “no-one knows how to use them”. Its original leader still holds a British record by standing in 40 elections and losing all of them. Also, it was run for a while by a cat.
A British Trotskyistcult party that went right-libertarian post-Cold War, discovered genocide denial, accused ITN of faking footage, and got sued out of existence.
A congressional district near New York City being won by a Republican is strange. What’s even stranger is the man who won it: made several false claims about his family and life, lived as a drag queen in Brazil, and became the first congressman expelled that hadn’t previously been a felon or had ties to the Confederacy!
A male Chinese opera singer-turned-spy who seduced French diplomat Bernard Boursicot for 20 years by pretending to be a woman, even “having” a child with him.
A Chilean preschool teacher who wore an inflatable Pikachu costume in the country’s 2019 protests, who was later elected to a board to rewrite the country’s constitution.
A presidential candidate with a boot on his head, who carries around a large toothbrush and pledges that, if elected, he will give every U.S. citizen a pony.
