So, I was looking over YouTube earlier, finding a clip for another comment, and in the recommendations appeared a clip from 1995, of [comedian and musician Jacob Haugaard on the pulpit in _Folketinget_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJiehvE1ajo). Haugaard was elected to parliament in 1994, technically as an independent, but also as part of the group SABAE, _Sammenslutningen af Bevidst Arbejdssky Elementer_(‘Union of Conscientiously Work-Shy Elements,’) a leftist group with roots in the Marxist and anarchist milieu of Aarhus, which presented a satirical, but sincere, criticism of capitalism and of the ruling political establishment. Their campaigns had satirical slogans like: “More renaissance furniture in IKEA!” and “Add the public pissoir in front of the Cathedral to the Cultural Heritage List!” but also more sincere, classical, leftist criticisms, like “Workers in all countries, stop it!” and “From each according to ability, to each according to need!” SABAE was an expression of a larger late 1970es movement of ironical and satirical criticism of what they’d likely call “bourgeois politics,” and their campaigns can be seen as a form of Situationism, as an attempt at constructing what they’d call “situations.”
When Haugaard was elected, most people, and the media, assumed he would be a comedic relief in parliament, and just sit out his term in largely silence, with small jokes delivered from time to time. But the opposite ended up happening. Haugaard used his term as a serious politician, often having the deciding vote in an otherwise hung parliament. He participated in also the serious debates, surrounding economics and foreign affairs, often using his time to call out inconsistencies in political narratives, and questioning the rhetoric of liberals and social democrats alike. When asked by media who he’d point to as possible leader of the royal examiner, i.e. the person responsible for finding and forming a government, he said “I can only see myself,” to which the journalist replied: “But seriously?” and he answered, seriously: “As said: I can only see myself.” After his 4 years, he chose not to run for a second term.
So the question is: Has there ever been an elected protest-voice, someone expected to be purely a joke, a non-serious candidate, who turned out to be the opposite?
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[Darth Vader](https://uk.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82_%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%B2_%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%96%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%86%D1%96)
On February 14, 2011 , a person in a Darth Vader costume applied to the Odesa City Council to receive 10 acres of land for free. According to him, he found out that the city council allocates land on the coastal slopes for free, and he came for the plot for himself, justifying it as follows: [2] [3] [4]
I know that the deputies of the city council, the executive committee and the mayor Kostusev have switched to the dark side of the Force and will therefore help me.
Later, it turned out that under the mask of ” Palpatin’s right hand ” was Odessa public figure Zhan Nikolayenko . The idea was born from the humorous remark of one of Odessa’s politicians that the corruption in the city council is such that even Darth Vader would be issued a state deed to the land there. According to the initial idea, no one should know the real person under the mask of Darth Vader, but Zhan Nikolayenko had to remove his helmet when completing the documents. [1] In the parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2012, Nikolayenko was the head of the election commission and represented the candidate for People’s Deputies in electoral district No. 133 from the Party of Regions Oleksiy Honcharenko . [5]
In July 2012, a man in a Vader suit with a chainsaw and a group of people, which included Odesa Regional Council deputies Oleksiy Goncharenko and Oleksiy Potapskyi, “fought” against illegal parking lots near Odesa beaches. [6]
On October 28, 2012 , during the parliamentary elections in Ukraine , a person wearing a Darth Vader costume was refused a ballot at a polling station because of his refusal to remove his helmet. According to the man, he could not take off his helmet because without it he would die: [7]
…every schoolboy knows that without a helmet I will die! I tried to explain it to the commission, but there are completely illiterate people sitting there.
Immediately after the incident, the character began campaigning for voters to vote for his son Luke Skywalker , even though there was no such person on the ballot. Nearby, a man in a Chewbacca costume was also campaigning for voters to vote for Skywalker. [7] However, according to media reports, in the same election, it was Darth Vader who was one of the most popular people listed on the spoiled ballots in Odessa. [8] [9]
After the 2012 elections, a billboard appeared in Kyiv with the image of Darth Vader with his hand on his heart, with the inscription “Thank you for your trust!” and the symbol of the “Internet Party of Ukraine” , [8] in which some journalists saw a hint of similar billboards of the “Party of Regions”, which won the largest number of mandates. [10]
As of November 2012, Darth Vader was the first deputy chairman of the so-called ” Internet Party of Ukraine “. [10] In December 2012, he distributed an “end-of-the-world kit” to Kyivites on Independence Square , which included salt , soap, matches, toilet paper, condoms, light bulbs, as well as disks with the Ubuntu operating system and evacuation tickets. [11] [12]
On February 26, 2013 , Darth Vader, the first deputy chairman of the “Internet Party of Ukraine”, surrounded by a dozen people in white “clones” costumes from “Star Wars”, tried to hand over to the Minister of Justice of Ukraine a complete package of documents confirming the legitimacy of his party. A month before, on January 23, 2013 , the court decided to liquidate the “Internet Party of Ukraine” due to the lack of regional organizations in the political force. [13]
On April 3, 2014, the CEC refused to register Darth Vader, a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine. On April 7, he appealed to the administrative court of Kyiv with a demand to restore his rights as a presidential candidate and to punish those who “illegally deprived him of his constitutional right to be elected.” On April 12, the Court of Appeal denied him the right to participate in the elections. [14]
On April 28, 2014 , it became known that Vader submitted documents to the Odesa Territorial Election Commission for registration as a candidate for the position of mayor. [14] At the same time, on April 30, 2014, the Kyiv City Territorial Election Commission registered Dart Vader, the first deputy head of the Internet Party of Ukraine, as a candidate for mayor of Kyiv. [15]
In the 2014 elections of People’s Deputies, Darth Vader headed the electoral list of the Internet Party of Ukraine. Together with him, citizens of Ukraine, Emperor Palpatine, Stepan Chewbacca, Padme Amidala, and Master Yoda ran for office in the top five of the list. [16]
In September 2015, members of the Darth Vader Bloc party nominated Darth Vader as a candidate for the post of mayor of Odesa. In case of victory, the candidate promised to repair the mayor’s office and install plastic windows in the entire building of the mayor’s office. [17]
There was a minor comedy-writer who used to write bland satire for some newspapers, and played the role of “cheeky posh schoolboy” in comedy panel shows. Somehow he was elected to be Mayor of London and then Prime Minister.
Not to parliament bit there was one as the directly elected mayor of Hartlepool, population 92,338.
When the local football club mascot, H’Angus The Monkey. was elected to be its first directly elected mayor.
Who get his name from Hang and Angus. After a local legend,
in which a [monkey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey) was [hanged](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging) in the town of [Hartlepool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartlepool), England. During the [Napoleonic Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars), a French [chasse-marée](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasse-mar%C3%A9e) was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Hartlepool. The only survivor from the ship was a monkey, allegedly dressed in a [French Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Army) uniform to provide amusement for the crew. On finding the monkey on the beach, a group of locals decided to hold an impromptu trial. Because the monkey was unable to answer their questions, and because they had seen neither a monkey nor a Frenchman before, they concluded that the monkey must be a French [spy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage). Being found guilty, the animal was duly sentenced to death and summarily hanged on the beach.
He ran as a joke and PR stunt for the football club with a £500 donation from the club. Running on a platform of “Free bananas for all”. Then when he won, he found that he couldn’t actually afford to give everybody a banana. Until he did a sponsorship deal with several supermarkets. He ended up winning reelection twice. And only got kicked out, when they got rid off the elected mayor.
In 1992 Estonia had general elections – first one after regaining independence. 7,1% voters were given to royalist party. It is considered as joke but they were quite effective to point out if someone tried to do something silly.
Example a: some people wanted to start every parliament working day with common prayer. Royalists pointed out that Estonia has freedom of religion and brought shaman drums. Christioans dropped their idea.
Example b: we had administrative reform to set new borders for counties and such. But some part of Estonia was left out. So the royalists created a kingdom there and elected a king. With main duty of rejoining Estonia.
Example c: they were royalists after all (nordic countries have kings!) and goal was to have kingdom. So they proposed a referendum that if a community would support swedish prince Carl Philip as a king then they should lit a bonfire. On midsommer eve. It succeeded of course because that is a old tradition.
But in the next elections they gave their list of candidates too late (technically not but officials found some tiny mistakes and it was too late to fix them).
[Martin Sonneborn](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Sonneborn)
He was editor in chief for a satire magazine and is head of the satire party „Die Partei“ (the party). Though their message is purely satirical running on promises to rebuild the Berlin wall etc. they are a real party running in federal elections. In the 2014 election for the European parliament he gained enough votes to get a single seat. Initially he planned to switch through different party members to fill that spot for a month each so everyone could get a months compensation. That idea was shut down so he took the spot. Then in the latest election Die Partei gained 2 seats. So another comedian took up that spot as well.
Elected to parliament? Nope. Has never happened. Since the passing of universal suffrage in 1921 only 4 parties have managed to enter parliament (beside the 5 parties that has always been there), 3 of them remain, and one of them have been kicked out before but managed to get back in.
The 5 stars movement. They started as a “movement”, “not a political party” even if they are a political party, around a mediocre comedian who “dared” to say fuck you to the politicians and organised the V-days (fuck you days). Now they are a joke who went too far.
There’s that Member of European Parliament from Germany who was elected as a joke but in reality he actually does a great job of pointing out bullshit at the EU f.x. office allowances that are quite high and have no need for audits or proof.
Anyone remember his name? I think he was in the pirate parti or something.