A Siberian town is so dissatisfied with their corrupt politicians, residents are pushing for 18-month Barsik the cat to become their new mayor.
Barsik won more than 5,000 votes (91.6 percent) in an unofficial poll by the popular Russian social network Vk against his human rivals.
“The success of Barsik is down to the other candidates not being well known to the citizens of the city,” Altaysky Seyatel, administrator of the forum, told CNN. “People don’t understand the other candidates’ programs, their motives for the nomination, or what they want to do for the city.”
The Russian city of Barnaul has chosen to make #Barsik the siamese cat their new mayor! #Purrogress! pic.twitter.com/FwPVs8yKTg
— Feline Frequency (@catfreq) December 12, 2015
A crowd-funding initiative was started by Barsik’s supporters that raised a billboard in the city centre depicting the feline candidate with the slogan “Only mice don’t vote for Barsik!”
“What the cat could steal at most is Whiskas (a brand of cat food),”said disgruntled voter Evgheniy Evdoseenko, before claiming that the human candidates were likely to buy “yachts.”
A long string of corruption scandals and mistrust of the public officials is at an all-time high for the small town located 2,220 miles from Moscow.
Despite its popularity, it is unlikely Barsik will be elected. A commission involving regional governor Alexander Karlin and the city council will appoint a new leader next week, according to CNN.
Barsik joins a long list of proud feline politicians who helped their human constitutes voiced their contempt for their elected government officials.
The most famous, Stubbs the orange tabby, was elected mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska in 1997. Mr Stubbs still serves as an honorary mayor and draws roughly 30 to 40 tourists a day. Also, Hank the Cat ran for Virginia’s Senate seat in 2012 where he finished in third place with nearly 7,000 votes.
Featured image via CNN.
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