10 Reasons Latin American Politics Are The Craziest In The World
It’s said that politics is show business for ugly people, and nowhere is that truer than in Latin America. From grandstanding presidents-cum-entertainers like Hugo Chavez to Brazilian congressional candidates who dress up as Wolverine, it often feels like politicians down south are less standing for office than auditioning for a reality TV show. Only this time the storylines are crazier than anything network TV could possibly dream up.
10 The Mexican Cat Election morriscat
It’s no secret that Mexican politics is pretty corrupt. So when the mayoral race for Xalapa, the State capital of Veracruz, fielded yet another bunch of weak-willed and uninspiring candidates, two activists decided to elect someone people could actually give a damn about: their awesomely-named pet cat Morris.Now, most elections have the odd “joke” candidate, but this was different. For starters, Morris became an internet phenomenon, collecting more Facebook “Likes” than all the other candidates combined. Then his fame inspired others to stand a donkey and a dog for election, perhaps in the hopes of forming a barnyard coalition. But the most impressive moment came on ballot day, when 12,000 people chose to vote for an unregistered cat over his human rivals. This means Morris the cat polled higher than some of the official candidates. In particular, he beat the candidate for Mexico’s largest left-wing party, pushing the poor guy into a humiliating fifth place. Political pundits were so outraged that they accused Morris of splitting the vote and handing a victory to the ruling PRI party—suggesting cats wield even more influence in Mexico than they do on the internet.
