Just when you thought the political turmoil in Ukraine couldn’t get any worse, Darth Vader is running for a seat in the parliament. And it could all part of a political sleight of hand to destabilise the country’s political opposition. Genuinely.
Across the country, no fewer than sixteen Darth Vaders are running, all registered by Ukraine’s Central Election Commission ahead of Sunday’s ballot. Only seven of them represent the Ukrainian Internet Party, whose bandura-playing video below is worthy of a supporting gig in the Mos Eisley Cantina. Six of the Darths share the name Darth Volodymyrovych Vader, while the rest go by Viktorovych, Leonidovych and Olehovych.
Several other candidates who have also managed to register include other stalwarts of the Star Wars canon like Master Volodymyrovych Yoda, Stepan Mikhaylovych Chewbacca, and Emperor Viktorovych Palpatine.
So what exactly does a vote for Vader mean? Isn’t it just another opportunity to protest a vote? Or is it something more insidious?
Some commentators argue it’s a tactic used to rig the election, by way of ‘fly parties’, a political sleight of hand witnessed in countries all across the former Soviet Union.
Ukraine’s electoral system is about as complicated as the galactic senate; the country splits its seats through both first-past-the-post and proportional representation. Half of the parliamentary seats are elected through electoral blocs, some 225 constituencies, while the other half are made up of what percentage of the total vote any running party gets nationwide. Any party that reaps 5% of the total number of votes cast by Ukrainians is guaranteed a seat.
'Fly parties' don’t stand much of a chance at reaching even that benchmark, but that is not their intention; instead, by running a large number of joke candidates from tiny parties, often under names similar to recognised political bodies, small opposition parties can be entirely nudged out of parliament by failing to hit the 5% minimum.
Political commentators are speculating that parties running Star Wars or absurdly ultra-nationalist candidates are designed to maintain the political status quo; their platforms essentially convince the electorate that opposition parties are not a viable alternative, and that the only logical vote is to stick with the ruling administration.
Come Sunday, it's unlikely we'll be seeing any of the 16 Vaders take up a seat in Kiev, but their presence on the ballot may just force out any legitimate smaller parties as well.
(H/T: Radio Free Europe)
