'Good' Hitler stands in local Peruvian election
September 26, 2018
In Peru, Hitler is seeking to maintain power in a small Andean town against a challenger named Lennin.
Under the campaign slogan "Vuelve el Mejor" (the best returns), Hitler Alba is vowing to provide good governance and transparency to the town of Yungar, where he is seeking reelection in October local elections.
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"I've always done good and the people know me," Abla told local broadcaster RPP. "I am the good Hitler."
Alba is running with the centrist Somos Peru party. He was mayor of the highland town of 3,000 people between 2011 and 2014.
He is being challenged by Lennin Vladimir Rodriguez Valverde, a resident of a neighboring district who recently tried unsuccessfully to get Abla off the ballot.
The odd standoff between candidates bearing the names of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin has to do with a practice of some parents in Peru giving their children foreign and exotic-sounding names.
Alba said he has no sympathy for the Nazis and had considered changing his name when he studied history, but decided against it because everyone knows him as Hitler and it would disrespect his parents' will.
He said he suspects his father named him after Adolf Hitler because it sounded international, but that he did not know history.
On October 7, voters in Peru will cast ballots in local elections for 25 regional governors, 196 provincial mayors and 1,678 district mayors, as well as local councilors.
cw/jm (EFE, dpa)