You're reading: Real characters change names to merge comics with politics

The Oct. 26 parliamentary elections promise to be fun with Super Mario, Spider-Man and Wolverine participating. They are about to get tough competition, since Darth Vader, Chewbacca and Yoda are opposing them.

The two Marvel comic books heroes, the world’s most famous plumber and the main antagonist of the Star Wars saga, are all running in single-member district 135 in Odesa. While some go with old campaigning strategies, these candidates went for freak show tricks to win the voters’ attention.

The Internet Party of Ukraine has gone further than anyone. The first five people on its list have actually changed their names. Their original names are unknown, but the Central Election Committee registered them as Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Yoda, Padme Amidala, and Senator Palpatine – all characters of the Star Wars saga.

Blogger Oleksandr Baraboshko wears Super Mario costume for a press conference in Odesa.

Others haven’t gone that far. Odessa-based blogger Oleksandr Baraboshko is running to Verkhovna Rada under his real name, but wears a Super Mario suit for the election campaign. He paired with Spider-Man and Wolverine for a press-conference in Odesa on Sept. 22. The real names of the two are unknown, but they claim they all run in the same district 135 and promise to “fight evil that prevails in the city” once they are elected.

“We will reveal their names a week before the election,” Baraboshko told the Kyiv Post.

A man dressed as Spider-Man was the latest addition to the political scene in Odesa

None of the three are backed by any party – at least officially. At the same time, some say that Bara­boshko and his fellows, as well as the Star Wars gang, are merely pawns in a game of big politics.

“They are the freak candidates, who are usually launched to distract the electorate from the opposition candidates and help the candidate who hires them win. This time the hiring side is most probably Serhiy Kivalov,” said Taras Berezovets, political analyst and head of Berta Communications, Kyiv-based political PR firm.

Unknown man dressed as “X-Men” character Wolverine campaigns in Odesa

Berezovets recalled how for the 2010 presidential elections a candidate changed his name to Vasyl Protyvsikh – “against everyone” in Ukrainian – and got 0.16% of the vote. According to Berezovets, whose firm organized Yulia Tymoshenko’s campaign in 2010, the candidate “was obviously the tool that Viktor Yanukovych used to steal Tymo­shenko’s votes.”

Darth Vader’s Internet Party has a history of attracting – or trying to attract – voters’ attention. He tried to run for Odessa mayor in 2013 but all the efforts to register failed. The same happened this May, when Darth Vader was refused registration of his candidacy for the presidential elections.

“Super Mario” Baraboshko claims that it’s the existing Ukrainian politicians who act deceitfully, not the freak candidates, who are “sincere.”

“It won’t get boring with us around,” Baraboshko says.

Kyiv Post staff writer Bozhena Sheremeta can be reached at [email protected]