Turns out, Darth Vader is not the father ? of voting.
The Dark Lord was denied his vote for the parliamentary elections in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, after he refused to doff his mask at a polling station, resulting in a scuffle the Sith Lord blamed on officials for denying him his voting rights.
The ex-electrician-turned-Internet-Party-of-Ukraine candidate, Viktor Shevchenko, legally changed his name to Darth Vader recently, and is currently running in the election, himself, along with Chewbacca and several other namesakes from the cast of ?Star Wars?. The collective even features campaign ads where Vader plays the ?Imperial March? on the traditional Ukrainian instrument, the bandura.
Videos published Sunday by Radio Svoboda, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, amusingly shows Luke’s father rolling up to a polling station in true empirical style, on top of a large black van blasting the ?Imperial March? from a mounted loudspeaker. Arriving at the station, Vader shows his passport to an official inside and is then asked to remove his mask and show his lovely face.
Unwilling to take orders from a mere election official, Vader refuses and is consequently denied a ballot. Restraining himself from using the force to carry out his bidding, Vader instead marches off, stating that he is ?disappointed?. Though the Dark One did not fall to the election official’s bidding, he must have showed his face at least once in the past in order to have registered with the Central Elections Commission to be eligible to run in the election in the first place.
In addition to the above video, Russia Today posted a Vine video that shows Vader snatching back his passport from a polling official’s hands.
Supporters of the dark side outside remained optimistic, however. To the crowd, Vader declared:
The fact that I did not vote does not mean that my empire will not win.
Citizens of Ukraine are already familiar with Vader’s political platform, having promised an electronic government in the run-up to the elections, transforming Ukraine into a ?Galactic Emprie?. Vader continued:
When I get to parliament, I will expel all the deputies. They have proven their uselessness. Computers will work in their place, and they will fulfill their functions without cease.
The actual faces of the ?Star Wars? candidates, including Darth Vader, were found on a ballot and posted on Twitter by an Associated Press reporter in Kiev. They can be seen below:
Darth Vader unmasked: Ukraine parliament hopeful exposes face at polling station. Chewbacca quite accurate though pic.twitter.com/OGEsm77OL1
? pete_leonard (@pete_leonard) October 26, 2014
Perhaps one can afford to be difficult when they rule the galaxy under a cloak of darkness, but Vader’s stubbornness has cost him now and then. Last May, he was denied the right to run for the Ukrainian presidency by the very same commission for once again not showing his face.
Pollsters in Ukraine have predicted little success for the ?Star Wars?-based Internet Party of Ukraine, despite the country-wide affinity for the movie. So far, Sunday’s antics has done little to change their predictions.
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H/T: mashable.com / (Featured image courtesy of YouTube)
Dylan Hock is a poet, novelist, professor and social activist. He is published in a number of little magazines and has an essay on the muzzling of Ezra Pound included in the anthology ?Star Power: The Impact of Branded Celebrity?. Currently, he also writes and edits for If You Only News, Addicting Info, Green Action News, and Take 10. Follow him on Ello, Google+, LinkedIn, RebelMouse and Goodreads. Hire him for freelance writing and editing work on Elance.
