Hitler Alba Sánchez, or ‘Good Hitler’ as he prefers to be known, is running for mayor in the Yungar district of Ancash in western Peru with the Somos Peru political party. However, a local named ‘Lenin’ (full name Lenin Vladimir Rodríguez Valverde), attempted to block Hitler’s candidacy by demanding that the electoral office reject his application as ‘Hitler’ reportedly lives seven hours away from the municipality he wishes to govern.
Lenin’s proposal was rejected and Hitler will run for office as normal.
Hitler claims it was a cynical ploy by the opposition to confuse the electorate and muddy the waters in the hotly-contested race for mayor.
“The opposition has used this citizen to create confusion with the historical ‘revolutionaries’ with whom we have no association,” ‘Hitler’ said, as cited by Reuters.
He told local radio station RPP that bearing the name of the infamous Nazi leader was a heavy burden to bear, but he managed to overcome it throughout his career in local politics in Yungar, where he was elected mayor in 2011 and 2014. He now runs under the slogans ‘Hitler is for the people’ and ‘Hitler is confidence.’
While ‘Good Hitler’ is no fan of the Nazi ideology, he does claim to have an affinity for German culture, once citing the German poet and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in a Facebook post.
“My father chose the name because it sounded unusual but I’m the ‘Good Hitler,” he explains.
Sánchez admits that once he learned of the history of World War II and the brutal dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, he considered changing his name, but decided to keep it as all of his family, friends and constituents recognized him as such.
Yungar is just one of 1,678 districts involved in the regional and municipal elections in Peru this coming October 7. The Peruvian government is currently at loggerheads with its Congress and the threat of a government shutdown looms large.
Some 23.4 million citizens are eligible to vote in these elections where 12,000 governmental positions will be decided.
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