A man calling himself Emperor Palpatine has been elected to the city council in the Ukrainian seaport of Odessa. The 25 year-old tabled more than half the vote in local elections on Sunday.
The newly-elected city councillor is rumoured to have some forward-thinking policies on cycles lanes
Mayoral candidate Aleksandry Borovik detailed the Sith win on his Facebook page, noting that a “cartoon comrade of Darth Vader – Palpatine – received 54.4 percent of votes in Poselok Kotovskogo [one of Odessa’s neighborhoods]."
He continued: "Palpatine Dmitry, born in 1990, who works as an emperor at ‘LLC Palpatine Finance Group’ makes it to the city council on the Trust Affairs party list.”
“This is beyond my understanding,” he concluded. “People, what’s wrong with you?”
The city of Odessa has become a hotbed of Star Wars-themed political activity. Ukraine's The Internet Party put forward a raft of candidates for last weekend's election, including Darth Vader, Yoda, Padme Amidala and Chewbacca.
On Sunday, a man dressed as the famed Wookiee fell foul of the country's election laws, which prohibit campaigning on Election Day. He was thrown over a police van and handcuffed after a scuffle with local law enforcement. The man later appeared in court (still dressed as Chewbacca) to receive a mandatory fine for the disturbance.
Last week a statue of Lenin was transformed by a Ukrainian artists, who turned the ernest revolutionary into Luke Skywalker's dad.
The inauguration ceremony of a Darth Vader monument, formerly a statue of Soviet founder Lenin
The press office of the Galactic Empire has yet to respond to a request for comment.