One candidate in Ukraine’s parliamentary elections is hoping to bring voters to the dark side: Darth Alekseyevich Vader.
Dressed in full Star Wars regalia, Vader has been seen prowling the streets of Kiev atop his black campaign van wooing voters with promises to turn Ukraine into a “galactic empire”.
So serious is he about his mission that he even legally changed his name to Darth Vader ahead of the elections (he was previously known as Viktor Shevchenko).
The electrician-turned-interplanetary warlord insists his Internet Party is serious business.
Speaking to The Associated Press on his van, flanked by a Stormtrooper, Vader insisted he was the only politician welcomed in both the country’s east and west.
“You have to understand that I unite the whole of Ukraine, as I am a Ukrainian,” he said.
Pollsters predict the party, which also includes a Stepan Chewbacca on its list, has little chance of getting into parliament in Sunday’s vote.
Still, the public can be seen greeting Vader enthusiastically when he drives around the capital atop his van.
Humorous adverts released online, showing Vader ploughing a field and also playing a traditional Ukrainian instrument, have also proved popular.
Despite his pledge to enhance transparency, Vader declines to ever show his own face.
That got him banned from voting in May presidential elections by punctilious electoral commission workers who said he was violating voting rules.
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